Wine lists at Sydney and Melbourne restaurants among world's best
Australian restaurants have a lot to toast about after being showered with tributes in the annual "World's best wine lists" awards by British magazine The World of Fine Wine.
Of the total 4000 assessed wine lists, 249 Australian restaurants were bequeathed star rankings, second only to the USA, which received 312.
Forty establishments, including Sepia and Quay in Sydney and Attica and Vue de Monde in Melbourne, received a prestigious three stars, meaning they have a "great wine lists".
When asked to choose a standout bottle, the head sommelier at Attica, Mattias Cianca, nominates Smoke and Mirrors, a white pinot noir made exclusively for Attica by Pyramid Valley Vineyards of Canterbury, New Zealand.
The chief sommelier of Sepia, Rodney Setter, was wowed by the prestigious nod. "The World of Fine Wine is one of the most respected wine publications in the world. It feels amazing to be one of the 40 restaurants in Australia that received the highest rating."
Setter says his wine list is distinctive because "it's very broad in terms of the selection; a great deal of diverse geography of the world is covered by it". Also, its layout by grape variety rather than country is unique and it encourages people to try a foreign tipple.
The smaller venue Love, Tilly Devine in Sydney's Darlinghurst earned the coveted tri-star rankingalongside the 'Best wine bar in Australasia' award and 'World's best wine lists jury prize', the latter for the second consecutive year.
The awards are judged by a board of global vino heavyweights including Alder Yarrow of Vinography wine blog, wine and spirits columnist for Bloomberg News Elin McCoy and publisher of The Wine Review, South-East Asia's oldest wine magazine, Ch'ng Poh Tiong.
Selection criteria took account of a wine list's breadth, depth, interest, quality, value, organisation and accuracy.
Top honours went to Eleven Madison Park in New York, supplanting 2014 winner, Austria's Palais Coburg Residenz.
Full list of winners: worldoffinewine.com/subject/about-winelistawards