The World of Fine Wine Announces the 2018 World’s Best Wine Lists Awards winners

London – the World’s Best Wine Lists in association with Gaggenau have been announced today at the Vintners’ Hall, with The Barn at Blackberry Farm, Walland Tennessee, receiving the honor of Wine List of the Year, Best Designed Wine List in the World, Best Long Wine List in the World and Champions’ League World’s Best Wine List 2018.

The World’s Best Wine Lists celebrated its fifth anniversary with a prestigious judging panel – chaired by Neil Beckett, World of Fine Wine Editor – featuring: writer and broadcaster, Andrew Jefford; award-winning sommelier, Andreas Larsson; publisher and writer Ch’ng Poh Tiong; wine writers Elin McCoy, Francis Percival and Alder Yarrow; sommelier Luciana Girotto; and wine writer and lecturer Anne Krebiehl MW. They have assessed over 1,000 of the world’s best wine lists to determine the shortlist. The nominees and winners are based on a range of criteria including breadth, depth, interest, quality, value, clarity and accuracy.

Nestled among the Great Smoky Mountains of Eastern Tennessee, Blackberry Farm is a rural idyll, playing host to one of America’s finest luxury hotels – in turn featuring one of the country’s best-loved and most respected restaurants, worthy of its supreme praise and four top recognitions at the World’s Best Wine Lists Awards 2018. The Barn’s creative cookery is well matched by a superb modern wine list containing over 9,000 selections. Described by our judges as “a phenomenal list that is a joy to explore” with a “wonderful variety and half-bottle selection to die for”.

Newly opened restaurants awarded in their regions included HIDE and Tenshino at Pullman Bangkok King Power.

HIDE, London, United Kingdom

Tenshino at Pullman Bangkok King Power, Bangkok, Thailand

The awards are renowned as the Michelin Stars of the wine list world and include a number of best-in-class category winners including The NoMad Hotel, New York for Best Spirits List in the World; Restaurant Mosaic at The Orient for Best Hotel Wine List in the World; Pilu at Freshwater for Best Regional Wine List in the World; Nº5 Wine Bar returning to take Best Wine Bar List in the World; and Air France claiming Best Airline Wine List in the World.

The NoMad Hotel, New York, USA

Restaurant Mosaic at The Orient, Pretoria, South Africa

Pilu at Freshwater, Sydney, Australia

Nº5 Wine Bar, Toulouse, France

Air France

On the awards, World of Fine Wine Editor Neil Beckett commented: “In its fifth year running, and at its first live ceremony, the World Best Wine Lists Awards was honored with the presence of guests from every continent apart from Antarctica. I think that the geographical spread of our top winners speaks volumes for the global spread of fine wine and also for the global scope of these awards”.

The Winners