Hearth

Best Wine List in North America

There are encyclopedic wine lists—Bible-length books of the acknowledged greats of the vinous world. And then there are those lists that simply capture an individual personality, that express firmly held tastes and convictions and, in doing so, help define the zeitgeist.

Paul Grieco’s list at Hearth in Manhattan’s East Village is very much in the latter camp. And in what turned out to be the strongest region in the inaugural World’s Best Wine Lists awards, this deliberately daring and bold approach helped make Hearth a popular choice as the winner of the Best Wine List in North America.

As senior judge, Francis Percival, put it. “Paul Grieco’s list is the most deeply personal, idiosyncratic, and self-consciously propagandist list you will ever encounter. It challenges, provokes, and inspires you to drink better wine. His campaigns (Summer of Riesling, cheap Sherry at Happy Hour) and Soviet-era aesthetic are backed by a thoroughly accessible and thoughtful wine list, with considerable depth. No one else could write this list and it is a world away from a tedious collection of great growths at oligarch-friendly prices. A treasure.”