The winners of the 2023 Star Wine List of the Year UK with The Buyer

Categories:

International categories:

The winners in the international categories are all qualified to the international final of Star Wine List of The Year that will be held in June.

Grand Prix

– The best wine list with more than 600 references.

The category is presented by Bibendum

Finalists:
Chez Bruce, London
Core by Clare Smyth, London
Hide, London
Les 110 de Taillevent London, London
Noble Rot Soho, London
Pollen Street Social, London
The Clove Club, London
The Vineyard at Stockcross, Newbury

Winner:
Core by Clare Smyth, London

"It feels amazing, to be honest. The other nominees are all places that I have huge respect for. The wine lists are all incredible and they are all places I’d like to go to eat and drink, and I know how passionate the sommeliers and wine buyers at those places are," said Gareth Ferreira at Core by Clare Smyth.

Gareth Ferreira says that maintaining a wine list like Core’s is all about passion.

"It’s something you work on every day. You can’t rest on your laurels, you review it and analyze it everyday, you look where you can be better. It’s just about staying on top of things."

Best Austrian Wine List

– Recognizes the best wine list with Austrian wines.

The category is presented by Austrian Wine

Finalists:
Moor Hall, Aughton
Newcomer Wines, London
NoMad, London
Pollen Street Social, London
The Ledbury, London
Trivet, London

Winner:
Newcomer Wines, London

"A wide, long and impressive selection of top organic and biodynamic producers from Austria. Great verticals make it so much fun!" says jury member Piotr Pietras MS about the winning wine list.

Best By-the-Glass List

– Recognizes the best by the glass list.

The category is presented by Catena Zapata

Finalists:
Carters of Moseley, Birmingham
Corkage, Bath
Les 110 de Taillevent, London
Noble Rot Lambs Conduit, London
Noble Rot Soho, London
Pollen Street Social, London
The 10 Cases, London
Wild Corner, London

Winner:
Noble Rot Soho, London

"We just try to represent different wine regions and different grape varieties, and also being sensitive on the prices, making it affordable to everybody. It is a showcase of our wine lists and an opportunity we give to people to taste different things," says Ana Rey at Noble Rot Soho.

Joshua Castle fills in:

"We don’t have much of a brief apart from making fine wine accessible for everyone so they can come in and drink a smaller or a large volume of wine, regardless of their budget."

Best Sparkling Wine List

– Recognizes the best list with sparkling wines.

The category is presented by Nyetimber

Finalists:
Hide, London
Kitchen Table, London
La Compagnie des Vins Surnaturels Seven Dials, London
Les 110 de Taillevent, London
NoMad, London
The George, London
The Ritz Restaurant, London
The Vineyard at Stockcross, Newbury

Winner:
Les 110 de Taillevent, London

”Very happy to be here again. We continue what we are doing. 110 wines, you could imagine that it’s quite hard to work with and maintain, but it’s actually quite easy, how do design it, change, update and serve. For our guests it’s of course great to have the opportunity to try so many different wines by the glass, at every range and price point,” says Lukasz Kuszela at Les 110 de Taillevent.

How are you going maintain the list?

”I mean, we go to a lot of different tastings and so on. Our list keeps on growing, so hopefully next year we will back and even better,” says team member Isabelle Strutt.

Sustainable Wine List

The category is presented by Spier Wine Farm

Finalists:
Apricity, London
Carters of Moseley, Birmingham
Coast Saundersfoot, Saundersfoot
Farmyard, St Leonard-on-Sea
Holm Somerset, South Petherton
Pale Hall Hotel, Llanderfell, Bala
Restaurant St. Barts, London

Winner:
Farmyard, St Leonard-on-Sea

"We've both got a bit of a passion for natural wine and sustainability. It means a lot to us. If you’re going to serve local produce and put that amount of care into your food, I don’t see why that shouldn’t continue into the wine," says Ben O’Norum at Farmyard.

"So what happens next — are you going to try out again next year?" Liora Levi, Star Wine List's Ambassador Manager, asked Ben and Kate O'Norum after the award show.

"Why not? We're very pleased that we have won, especially being from a little seaside town that no one has ever heard of,” said Kate.

Special Jury Prize

– Recognizes a venue that has done something extra with their wine list, such as the direction, the style or the value.

Winner:
Chez Bruce, London

"It feels good, we’ve worked very hard and that seems to be evident. The wine list itself has got a lot of classics on it, but we can take the list in any direction and cover a broad field. It is something we work hard on and it’s nice to see that it’s recognized, especially by the guests coming in," says Victor Barré, Head Sommelier at Chez Bruce.

Best Short List

– Recognizes the best wine list with fewer than 200 listings.

Finalists:
A Wong, London
Carters of Moseley, Birmingham
Dinings SW3, London
Farmyard, St Leonard-on-Sea
Ikoyi, London
Levan, London
Planque, London
Restaurant St. Barts, London

Winner:
Restaurant St. Barts, London

"I’m very excited to win this award. I didn’t expect it, since we were nominated against so many great restaurants around the UK, with wine lists and people that I really admire. It was a very pleasant surprise," says Emma Denney, Head Sommelier at Restaurant St. Barts.

Why do you think you won?
"Well, what I’ve tried to do with our list is to have a really wide range of wines from around the world at a really reasonable price range. Basically just trying to find things that I love to drink and that I am excited about and like to be selling to my guests."

Describe Restaurant St. Barts?
"We are a fine dining British tasting menu. At lunch time we serve six courses, at dinner fifteen, and we have a wine lost focusing on organic, biodynamic and sustainable wineries."

Best Medium-Sized List

– Recognizes the best wine list with 200-600 references.

Finalists:
Chewton Glen Hotel, New Milton - New Forest
Climat, Manchester
La Compagnie des Vins Surnaturels Seven Dials, London
Noizé, London
Sager + Wilde Hackney Rd, London
The 10 Cases, London
Trivet, London
Wild Corner, London

Winner:
Trivet, London

"We’ve been lucky the last couple of years. I think we have a very good list, but you always face a lot of great competitors. But we put a lot of work into our list," said Trivet’s Philipp Reinstaller after the victory.

"The wine list is organized in chronological order, showing the history of wine, starting with Georgia and Armenia, Turkey and Greece, which I think is good for customers, as well as it is for us working here, because we get to try and learn about many different wines."

UK Categories:

The UK Categories are held especially for the UK event.

Best Up-and-Coming Wine List

– For a new wine list or a wine list that is going places.

The category is presented by Château Palmer

Finalists:
Climat, Manchester
Restaurant St. Barts, London
Sète, Margate
Studio Frantzén, London
The Terrace Rooms & Wine, Ventnor
Veraison Wines, London

Winner:
Climat, Manchester

"We’re delighted about it, we really didn’t expect it. We opened on 2 December last year, so we’re really new. Our focus was always Burgundy, and that’s for sure the strongest part of the list, and now we’re just fine tuning the rest of the world, basically," says Jerome Boullier at Climat.

He says that Climat definitely would like to apply again next year:

"We’d like to, for sure. There’s a few different categories there, and this year we were nominated for best mid-sized list and best newcomer. We’ve been looking into South Africa a lot, and sparkling wine as list, so we’ll see."

New Generation Bordeaux List

– For a wine list featuring a wide range and a new generation of Bordeaux wines.

The category is presented by Bordeaux Wines

Finalists:
Maison Francois, London
Noble Rot Lambs Conduit, London
Noble Rot Soho, London
The Drapers Arms, London
The Terrace Rooms & Wine, Ventnor
Veraison Wines, London

Winner:
Noble Rot Soho, London

"We’ve always been big champions of Bordeaux. Everyone’s talking about new wave growers in Burgundy and Loire, but there’s some really good value gems to be found in Bordeaux as well. We have some UK-based suppliers bringing on some exciting names from that traditional region, so there is lots to be uncovered," says Noble Rot Soho's Joshua Castle.

Best California Wine List

– Recognizes the best list with Californian wines.

The category is presented by Louis M. Martini

Finalists:
Chiltern Firehouse, London
China Tang at The Dorchester, London
Core by Clare Smyth, London
Goodman City, London
Hide, London
Pollen Street Social, London
The Clove Club, London
The Vineyard at Stockcross, Newbury

Winner:
The Vineyard at Stockcross, Newbury

”Vineyard is owned by the Peter Micheal family, so we have always had a very strong link with California. I think the list is amazing list, but it’s still just a work in progress, a dynamic list, moving with the trends,” said Romain Bourger at Vineyard at Stockcross after the award show.

Best New Zealand Wine List

– Recognizes the best list with New Zealand wines.

The category is presented by New Zealand Wine

Finalists:
Chez Bruce, London
China Tang at The Dorchester, London
Hide, London
Oxo Tower Restaurant, London
Pollen Street Social, London
The Vineyard at Stockcross, Newbury

Winner:
Pollen Street Social, London

"I was invited to a trip by Wines of New Zealand some years ago where, at the time, the idea was to suck up some knowledge about New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc, and that was about it. But when I actually got there, it sparked something and I really got a passion about it. I realized that there is a lot more to New Zealand than just Sauvignon Blanc. That got my mind going, and I wanted to showcase it on the list," says Stefan Kobald at Pollen Street Social.