View all newsletters
Receive our weekly newsletter - World Of Fine Wine Weekly
  1. News & Features
July 16, 2021updated 10 Nov 2022 10:57am

World’s Best Wine Lists Awards 2021: The search begins

By The World of Fine Wine Team

The deadline for establishments to enter the prestigious World’s Best Wine Lists Awards has been extended.

The World of Fine Wine today announced that it will be extending its deadline for entries to August 1, 2021 for those who want to participate in this year’s World’s Best Wine Lists Awards. As conditions for the hospitality industry worldwide continue to be extremely challenging, this will give establishments more time to submit their entry to an international panel of leading professionals including World Champion Sommeliers, Master Sommeliers, Masters of Wine, and highly respected wine writers.

This year, in response to the pandemic, the price of the awards package has been greatly reduced to £150. Establishments who enter will receive recognition and feedback from expert judges.

“To say that the last year has not been kind to restaurants is a gross understatement. They need every bit of help they can get at the moment, and I hope that our recognition of outstanding wine programs might play a tiny part in encouraging consumers to get back to dining out,” says WBWL judge Alder Yarrow.

Crucial importance

The World’s Best Wine Lists, sponsored by Bouza, Taylor’s, and Familia Torres, is the first awards program to acknowledge the crucial importance of a good wine selection—regardless of size—in the modern dining experience all around the world.

Judges recognize best-in-class establishments in some 20 categories with winners acknowledged as the finest lists of their kind in their region—Europe, North America, South America, Asia, Australasia, Middle East and Africa. From these regional category winners, the global category winners will be selected. One outstanding entry will be identified as Wine List of the Year. Among the criteria for judging are breadth, depth, height, balance, selection, accuracy, originality, suitability, design, and value.

“A well-curated wine list can open the eyes of the guests to the immense and fantastic world of wine and allow them to make a journey around the world while sitting at a dining room table,” said WBWL Judge Heidi Mäkinen MW.

Content from our partners
Wine Pairings with gooseberry fool
Wine pairings with chicken bhuna 
Wine pairings with coffee and walnut cake 

Asked about the importance of The World’s Best Wine Lists, WBWL Judge Francis Percival added, “The best wine lists give a profound sense of the personality and values of their creator. The mark of a controlling intelligence is what distinguishes a great wine list from a list of great wines.

“This doesn’t mean that every list needs to be prefaced with a long manifesto, but rather that the wines themselves, what is listed and what is omitted, are the manifesto. The very best lists manage to achieve this with a sense of engaging playfulness.”

How to enter

Entries can be submitted via the The World of Fine Wine website up until August 1, 2021. Shortlists will be announced on October 4 and winners announced via a virtual ceremony on November 1, which is open to all entrants and included in the submission fee. Winners will also be identified in a special feature in The World of Fine Wine magazine, with the full results published on the dedicated awards page.

The World’s Best Wine Lists is a global awards program created in 2014 by The World of Fine Wine. It is the first awards program to acknowledge the crucial importance of a good wine selection—regardless of size—in the modern dining experience all round the world.

Topics in this article : ,
Select and enter your email address For award-winning content from the world’s most respected and intellectually satisfying wine magazine, sign up to our newsletter here
Visit our privacy Policy for more information about our services, how New Statesman Media Group may use, process and share your personal data, including information on your rights in respect of your personal data and how you can unsubscribe from future marketing communications.
Thank you

Websites in our network