Looking for a great dining experience? Search our Restaurant Awards database, a compendium of our picks for the nation’s top wine-driven restaurants, for the ultimate in wining and dining. You can find award-winning restaurants near your home, or plan ahead for your next vacation and find a great dining experience for your destination. Search by city, region, award level, cuisine type or simply enter the name of the restaurant you’re looking for.
How It Works
Levels:
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There are three levels of awards given to applicants: The Award of Distinction, the Award of Unique Distinction, and the highest, the Award of Ultimate Distinction.
Factors:
Wine lists are judged not only on the size of the list, but also on the quality and synergy with the cuisine offered. Other factors: creativity, service, staff education, presentation, stemware and value.
Nuts and Bolts:
Applicants from around the U.S., as well as foreign destinations like Canada and South America, were asked to submit sample menus, actual wine lists and answers to a questionnaire our team crafted to shed light on the culture of wine in their establishments. The questions ranged from how wines are stored to how often the restaurant hosts wine-themed events. Other questions covered future plans for broadening the restaurant’s wine collection, staff education and more.
Who Entered:
The applicants ran the gamut from postage stamp-sized French bistros to glitzy and acclaimed urban eateries. Country inns, grand hotel hotspots and family-run favorites were also in the running.
The Judges:
Aileen Robbins, event producer, Wine Enthusiast Companies; Josh Farrell, wine director, WineExpress.com; Joe Czerwinski, tasting director, Wine Enthusiast; Lauren Buzzeo, assistant tasting director, Wine Enthusiast; Susan Kostrzewa, executive editor, Wine Enthusiast; Glenn Vogt, wine director, Crabtree’s Kittle House, New York; Brian Di Marco, founder and owner of The Barterhouse, a New York wine import company; Mary Ann Gutierrez, sommelier, Le Bernardin, New York; Christy Canterbury, wine acquisitions director, and Sarah Gabrielle Egron, of Italian Wine Merchants, New York.
