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Wine List Confidential Awards 2019: The winners
London’s leading wine list review service, Wine List Confidential, revealed its top 100 restaurants for 2019 with the release of its latest guide and an award ceremony celebrating the diversity of the capital’s wine offering.
The capital’s top sommeliers and restaurant staff attended the awards ceremony on Monday 20 May at the London Wine Fair.
As well as this year’s awards, the occasion marked the launch of the Wine List Confidential 2019 guide, which provides reviews of the top 100 restaurants, bars, clubs and pubs for wine lovers in London, each rated for value, size, range, originality and service.
Meanwhile, a top panel of judges including FT drinks correspondent Alice Lascelles, Evening Standard drinks writer Douglas Blyde, the drinks business editor Lucy Shaw, and famed food instagrammer Clerkenwell Boy deliberated over a wide selection of London’s wine lists for the WLC Awards.
As well as awards for best service, best value, most original list, and best overall, this year new categories were added in order to recognise the talent behind the lists, including two awards for sommeliers: Rising Star and Sommelier of the Year.
2019 also witnessed a new restaurant grab the top spot, with the head sommelier also picking up the gong for Sommelier of the Year.
Commenting on this year’s competition, Lucy Shaw, editor of the drinks business, who chaired the judges, said: “This year the competition for spots on the list is more intense than ever, and we’ve also seen some great variety with hybrid wine bar / merchants, micro lists, sustainable wines and many new and original offerings.
“London is one of the world’s great cities for wine lovers, and we hope the 2019 guide will encourage people to explore some of these excellent wine lists.”
For the full results for this year’s awards, please click through. To see the top 100 wine lists and complete reviews of each, please visit www.winelistconfidential.com
Best-By-The-Glass Offering
Winner
67 Pall Mall
Shortlist
67 Pall Mall
Oswald’s
Les 100 de Taillevent
Best for Champagne
Winner
The Greenhouse
Shortlist
The Greenhouse
Annabel’s
Mere
Texture
Best Micro List
Winner
Top Cuvée
Shortlist
10 Greek Street
Top Cuvée
Little Duck The Picklery
Best English Wine List
Winner
The Coral Room
Shortlist
The Coral Room
Simpson’s in the Strand
Best Looking List
Winner
Hide
Shortlist
Pied à Terre
Hide
Mãos
London Shell Co.
Best Hybrid Wine Bar / Merchant
Winner
Authentique
Shortlist
Bottles
Authentique
Quality Wines
Best Sustainable List
Winner
Levan
Shortlist
Leroy
Levan
Fare
Best Iberian Wine List
Winner
Bar Douro
Shortlist
Bar Douro
Ametsa with Arzak Instruction
Best Italian Wine List
Winner
The River Café
Shortlist
Margot
The River Café
Caractère
Locanda Locatelli
Bocca di Luppo
Rising Star
Winner
Melody Wong (Yopo)
Shortlist
Melody Wong (Yopo)
Lorenzo Abussi (Rüya)
Emma Underwood (Darby’s)
Lucy Ward (Gridiron)
Sommelier of the Year
Winner
Kelvin McCabe (Frog by Adam Handling)
Shortlist
Xavier Rousset MS (Cabotte)
Giovanni Ferlito MCA (The Ritz)
Kelvin McCabe (Frog by Adam Handling)
Stefan Neumann MS (Dinner by Heston)
Katie Exton (Lorne)
Oliver Christie (The Clove Club)
Most distributed red wine, in association with Wine Picker
Winner
Sassicaia
Most distributed white wine, in association with Wine Picker
Winner
Cloudy Bay Sauvignon Blanc
Best Value List
Winner
Rex Whistler
Best for Service
Winner
Mãos
Most original
Winner
Diogenes The Dog
Wine List of the Year
Winner
Frog by Adam Handling
Adam Handling’s Frog in Covent Garden was the top-rated restaurant overall with an average of 98.4/100 on the guide’s key measures of value, service, range and originality.
Author of the guide, Douglas Blyde, described Frog’s list as “an exhilarating, democratic, innovatively compiled offering.”