Vienna leading the pack among Star Wine List of the Year Austria finalists 2025
On 15 June 2025, we will name the best wine lists in Austria on the last stop of this season’s Star Wine List of the Year international tour before the grand finale.
It is fitting that the Star Wine List of the Year International Final is being held in Vienna (on 16 June 2025), as the Austrian capital is proving the frontrunner in the country’s wine list battle, accounting for 13 out of our 33 finalists, as announced by the jury panel today.
Star Wine List of the Year celebrates the top wine lists of the world and the teams that craft them. In Austria, a total of 33 wine bars and restaurants spread across 18 cities have been shortlisted for Gold Stars, from Damüls in the west to Sankt Veit am Vogau in the south east, and up to Vienna and Langenlebarn in the northwest corner. Those finalists include three Gold Star winners from last year’s combined competition for Austria, Germany and Switzerland: Vienna’s Heunisch & Erben and Restaurant Amador, and Restaurant Esskultur in St. Jakob in Haus.
Our Austrian awards entries were assessed by four highly esteemed judges, including Master of Wine Heidi Mäkinen, Master Sommelier Stefan Neumann, and not one, but two winners of the ASI Best Sommelier of Europe competition: Salvatore Castano (2021) and Mikk Parre (2024).
The 2025 winners will be announced in a ceremony held in Vienna on 15 June. All of them will be joined the next day by fellow winners from across the world, for our International Final – the pinnacle of our global competition.
Scroll down to meet our Austrian finalists in the running for Gold Stars.
Judges
The world-renowned sommeliers judging Star Wine List of the Year Austria 2025 are:
• Heidi Mäkinen – Master of Wine
• Salvatore Castano – Best Sommelier of Europe and Africa 2021 (ASI)
• Mikk Parre – Best Sommelier of Europe, Africa and Middle East 2024 (ASI)
• Stefan Neumann – Master Sommelier
Finalists
INTERNATIONAL CATEGORIES:
Grand Prix
– The best list of the overall competition.
This category is presented by Premium Estates of Austria
The finalists and winner will be announced at the event.
Best Long List
– For wine lists with more than 600 references.
This category is presented by Esterházy
Finalists:
Die Weinbank, Ehrenhausen
Döllerer, Golling
Fux Restaurant, Lech
Gastwirtschaft Floh, Langenlebarn
Heunisch & Erben, Vienna
Hotel Alpenstern, Damüls
Mühltalhof, Unternberg
Restaurant Amador, Vienna
Steirereck, Vienna
Best Medium-Sized List
– Recognises the best wine list with 200-600 references.
This category is sponsored by Château Galoupet
Finalists:
Esslokal, Hadersdorf am Kamp
Gasthaus Restaurant Thaller, Sankt Veit am Vogau
Hotel Post Lech, Lech
Pramerl and the Wolf, Vienna
Restaurant Esskultur, St. Jakob in Haus
Sattlerhof, Gamlitz
Stern, Vienna
Best Short List
– Recognises the best wine list with fewer than 200 listings.
Finalists:
Artis, Graz
Café Azzurro, Vienna
Oak107, Vienna
Restaurant Kornati, Graz
Restaurant Spitzbuam, Brixen im Thale
Strandcafé, Altaussee
Best By the Glass List
– Recognises the best ‘by the glass’ list.
Finalists:
Döllerer, Golling
Heunisch & Erben, Vienna
Hotel Alpenstern, Damüls
Hotel Schöne Aussicht, Sölden
Hotel Sonnenhof Tirol, Grän
MAST Weinbistro, Vienna
Pub Klemo, Vienna
The Ritz-Carlton, Vienna
Best Sparkling Wine List
– Recognises the best list for sparkling wines.
Finalists:
aend, Vienna
Champagne Characters, Vienna
Die Weinbank, Ehrenhausen
Fux Restaurant, Lech
Gastwirtschaft Floh, Langenlebarn
Heunisch & Erben, Vienna
Hofmeisterei Hirtzberger, Wösendorf
Hotel Alpenstern, Damüls
Restaurant Amador, Vienna
Sustainable Wine List
– Recognises a wine list that has put extra emphasis on the wine program’s overall impact, including vine growing, winemaking, packaging and transport.
Finalists:
Die Weinbank, Ehrenhausen
Gastwirtschaft Floh, Langenlebarn
R&Bar, Vienna
Restaurant Esskultur, St. Jakob in Haus
Rote Wand, Lech
Trautentalwirt Gasthaus Rainer, Geistthal
Categories and criteria
Star Wine List judges the wine lists in several categories such as the Best Sparkling Wine List and Best By the Glass List. These categories are the same across all of the awards. In addition, local categories may be added. We have commercial partners for certain categories, such as the Best Austrian Wine List, presented by Austrian Wine. The commercial partners are, however, never involved in the selections of finalists or winners – that is completely up to our independent jury panel.
The criteria for the jury are straightforward but not simple: vote for the most exciting wine list representing the category.
The winners in the international categories will qualify for our International Final in June 2025, where they will face off with the category winners from other countries and continents.
Read about the terms and how Star Wine List judges the wine lists here.
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