A total of 16 elite London restaurants have been honoured in The World of Fine Wine’s inaugural World’s Best Wine Lists 2014.
The prestigious UK-based wine publication has given 16 London restaurants the top rating of three stars for their lists, well ahead of other leading cities including Chicago (6), Hong Kong (5), Singapore (5), and Rome (4). With only 225 three-star ratings awarded in total, London has the second highest number of three-star wine lists of any city apart from New York.
4,000 wine lists judged
The World of Fine Wine’s judging panel comprised some of the world’s leading wine authorities, including Gerard Basset MS MW (former World Sommelier Champion), Andrew Jefford, Elin McCoy, and Tom Stevenson. They helped to assess well over 4000 wine lists from restaurants around the world before coming up with the final 750 worth one, two, or three stars at a judging session held at Lutyens Restaurant in London. Only 224 wine lists were recognized in the top three-star category.
Winners
The three-star winners included restaurateur Gordon Ramsay for his eponymous London restaurant. On receiving the award, the delighted celebrity chef said: “It’s just fantastic news that the wine list at Restaurant Gordon Ramsay has been recognised in this way. The entire team there work tirelessly to deliver the ultimate experience in wine, food, and service for all to enjoy. I’m very proud of all of them.”
Another of London’s three-star winners was Dinner By Heston Blumenthal at the Mandarin Oriental. Executive Chef Ashley Palmer Watts commented: “I am so proud of the team and we all are extremely honoured by this wine award. It’s great to see the massive efforts made by the sommelier team recognised. They work very hard on sourcing wines and maintaining an incredible list, as well as selecting ideal pairings for our dishes.”
London has a total of 16 three-star wine lists as well as 15 rated as two-star, according to the judging panel.
Important development for the wine industry
According to The World of Fine Wine’s editor Neil Beckett, the awards are in important development for the wine industry: “We hope that they offer a refreshing new approach and will be seen as the industry benchmark for many years to come. They are the first awards to acknowledge the importance of a good wine selection, as distinct from a massive compilation, in the modern dining experience all over the world.
“As we were judging, we had in mind the wise words of our fellow judge Francis Percival about the difference between ‘a great wine list and a mere list with great wines on it’. We were hugely impressed by the range of high-quality entries and had a pleasantly difficult time settling on our very deserving winners. We look forward to repeating the process next year and to the awards becoming an invaluable resource, not only for readers of The World of Fine Wine, but for wine lovers everywhere.”
London’s Three-Star Winners:
28-50
Alyn Williams at the Westbury
Bubbledogs (Winner: Jury Award)
Clos Maggiore
Dinner by Heston Blumenthal
The Glasshouse
Hélène Darroze at the Connaught
La Trompette
L’Etranger
Lutyens
Marcus Wareing at the Berkeley
Restaurant Gordon Ramsay
Sketch (Winner: Best By-the-Glass)
The Greenhouse
The Quality Chop House (Winner: Best Short Wine List)
The Square
To view the full index of winning global restaurants click here