Winning at Star Wine List of the Year is “out of this world” for Park Hotel Vossevangen
Not everyone has heard of Park Hotel Vossevangen, a luxurious lakeside hotel in Western Norway. Yet, amongst the Star Wine List network, it enjoys a particular sort of celebrity for its consistent performance at our annual wine list awards both nationally and internationally. What’s so special about this place? Well, a wine list featuring over 6,000 labels and 400 by-the-glass pours, for a start.
The sommelier team at Park Hotel Vossevangen are familiar faces at the Star Wine List of the Year events. At this year’s International Final, held in Vienna, a certain German somm joked that the “boys” should “leave some Gold Stars for somebody else next time!” It was said with a big smile and came with a pat on the back, as tends to be the way with this hugely supportive community of wine professionals. But he had a point…
Twin brothers Robert and Reidar Johansen, along with colleague Rémi Asenci, earned three Gold Stars in this year’s global event, for Best By the Glass List, Best Long List and the highest honour of Grand Prix, making them this year’s overall champions. This comes after they took the same three Gold Stars for Norway, earlier in the tour. Last season, they took one Gold Star at the International Final and three in Norway. Over the years, they have consistently dominated their regional competitions before going on to win big on the global stage, thus boasting multiple Grand Prix victories and countless Silver Stars (meaning that they were finalists in a category).
Impressive, of course. But what does such acclaim mean for them?
At June’s ceremony in Vienna, Robert told us that, “we see that there's a lot of guests that were not aware of the Park Hotel, but they just check the [Star Wine List] app when they're traveling on the west coast of Norway and they're like, 'Wow, there’s this crazy wine list in Voss. Okay it’s worth trying it out.’ So they just randomly stop by: ‘Ah, we saw your wine list on Star Wine List!’ We definitely see more wine enthusiasts and wine clubs, and wine drinkers from all over the world – we attract them because of these awards.”
“Literally, it’s people coming in because of Star Wine List and because of the Star Wine List awards,” adds Rémi.
It’s not just the added bonus of more guests: being recognised by the Star Wine List of the Year jury panels – formed of fellow sommeliers and wine experts – has a greater significance, too.
“First of all, it means that we're doing something right,” says Robert. “But it's also a confirmation that what we do daily is worth it. It’s not just glitter and glamour within the industry, so it's nice to receive…”
“...that distinction,” Rémi chimes in. “It’s a reward for the amount of work that is put behind the wine list, and it comes from people who are really working in the industry, so it's more special.”
A Gold Star wine list
“This extraordinary wine list is a true labour of passion,” said Valeria Gamper after judging this year’s International Final, “curated with patience and precision ... It’s just impressive!”
Toru Takamatsu MS described it as a list that “would have any wine lover reading for the whole meal ... it’s 566 pages of so much fun.”
Their colleague, Heidi Mäkinen MW added that the by-the-glass selection “leaves one almost speechless as it could rival any venue's wine list as a whole!”
You get the picture.
In Vienna, Robert and Rémi explain that, whilst they benefit from a wonderful – and classically inspired – foundation in the wine list that they now work with, they always try to broaden both their own ideas and those of their guests. “It's about thinking a bit outside the box,” says Robert, “not just doing the same thing in the same pattern that we always do, but trying to expand our horizon in a way – follow new wine trends, the up-and-coming wine regions, wine producers of the world. And throughout the last years we've been having great wine professionals working at our place with different tastes, with different approaches, with different ideas and philosophies or ways of thinking around wine. And I think that really helps us to also proceed, to build, and make the wine list even better.
“It's not just about having the best wine list or the most expensive wines, but to try to be the best in every single category and aspect and price range. So, for everything from the house wine to the high, high-end wines, exclusive wines from Burgundy – to be the best in every single category.”
The prowess that the Park Hotel has shown across traditional regions such as Burgundy and Bordeaux attracts wine lovers from all over but, in trying to portray “the whole spectrum of the wine world,” as Robert puts it, he likes to play around with guests’ notions – and palates. “It's really cool to challenge them a bit, put them a bit outside their comfort zone, do something completely different but within their preference and style, but from another part of the world. We do a lot of blinds to guests.”
It’s the kind of fun you can have with a cellar that houses more than 40,000 bottles and over 6,000 references. That breadth – and the magic of Coravin – means that the by-the-glass list sits at around 400 wines and rotates almost daily.
The by-the-glass program is run by Rémi, who says that his idea is to “have something for everyone. We're fortunate enough to have that many bottles so, for me, it's making sure we have wine for everything, every taste; most of the wine regions in the world, all the grapes – diversity.”
The power of three
Reidar (who did not attend the Vienna awards this year), is Park Hotel Vossevangen’s Wine Director, liaising with producers and importers. He’s “kind of got the last word when it comes to ordering wines,” says brother Robert. “So he's like the one that knows ‘the bible’ in a way.”
Robert, as Head Sommelier, takes care of the wine program and keeps “on top of things” while Rémi runs the floor and is the one “most in charge” of the by-the-glass list. “So huge thanks to Rémi for bringing that prize home!” Robert says.
The brothers hail from the area around Voss and Robert began working at the hotel in 2012. After helping out with a stock take, he got the bug for wine and has worked as a sommelier for the past seven years.
Rémi, by contrast, comes from the Loire Valley in France. He got into wine whilst working in Australia’s Margaret River and moved to Norway to work at the hotel, originally as a waiter, before getting trained up by the wine team. “The hotel is really good at, if they see someone with an interest, they will push them through – so education, a lot of training,” says Rémi.
And Voss as a place to live for a Frenchman? “It’s fantastic. It's natural and beautiful; quite dramatic landscape. Very different seasons in summer and winter, but a beautiful place.”
Wine in Norway
Located in one of the biggest export markets for English wine, the Park Hotel team has been “focusing a lot on that lately.” They have even been pitting “classic Champagne houses up against the best of English sparkling, and we can see that the English is competing well with the Champagne.”
This has encouraged Rémi to extend the sparkling selection served by the glass – so that section will be getting even bigger, shortly.
They also cite Austrian wine as very popular over the past four or five years and, of course, natural wines. Overall, they describe the Norwegian market as enjoyably experimental:
“Since, in Norway, we don't produce that much quality wine ourselves, we're a bit more open-minded when it comes to wines from outside the most classic wine regions. So we're into South African wines, wines from Austria of course, also the US, Latin America. So I think Norwegian wine drinkers, or wine enthusiasts in general, appreciate wines that are more elegant, more mineral-driven; not just the big, tough, bold, often classic and expensive stuff. They're willing to explore a bit more, so it means that we need to be a bit on top of our game as well, to be following along and always know what's the most hip thing, what are the coming wine trends.”
Park Hotel and Star Wine List
Before excitedly hopping onto a train taking all of our winners and finalists from the awards ceremony in Vienna’s MuseumsQuartier to the evening celebrations at Weingut Wieninger, Rémi kindly tells us how useful he finds the Star Wine List app.
“We checked it yesterday to find places in town,” he says. “Every time I go overseas, I check and yeah, it’s allowed for great, great, great times finding some great restaurants. Not only can you see the wine list, but you can also read the article, to give you the atmosphere of the place, what you can expect. And this for me is a game changer in the wine world. I actually talk a lot about it with guests, as a genuine recommendation for them when they travel.”
Robert, clutching his Gold Star certificates, says that their team “never expects to win. But, as I mentioned on the podium, it's just an honour to be here with such amazing wine lists, wine personalities, and to represent our country and the wine scene of Norway. To be able to go home with three different prizes is just out of this world.”
The Star Wine List of the Year International Final 2025 in pictures.
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