A who’s who of the global hospitality world, including many of the world’s leading sommeliers, wine critics, restauranteurs and hoteliers gathered at London’s iconic Savoy Hotel as The World of Fine Wine revealed the 2025 World’s Best Wine Lists winners, including Aspen’s The Little Nell and Norway’s Park Hotel Vossevangen.
Launched in 2014 by the award-winning World of Fine Wine publication, the World’s Best Wine Lists Awards have grown into one of the most prestigious and closely watched benchmarks of wine-focused hospitality. Judged by an independent international panel of Masters of Wine, Master Sommeliers and leading wine writers, each entry is assessed against detailed criteria, including breadth and depth, balance, originality, accuracy, suitability to the food, design and value, so that a place among the winners signals genuine, sustained excellence in wine list curation.
Alongside the category trophies, many entrants are also recognised in the World’s Best Wine Lists Star Accreditation programme, which rates wine lists from one to three stars for consistent quality. In 2025, 312 establishments worldwide held star status.
Inside the 2025 World’s Best Wine List Awards
Guests took their seats for dinner in The Savoy’s ballroom as awards chairman and editor of the World of Fine Wine Neil Beckett, joined on stage by food editor and judge Francis Percival, worked through the roll call of 2025 winners. The Little Nell in Aspen, Colorado emerged with the top honour, Wine List of the Year 2025, as well as Best Hotel Wine List, while Park Hotel Vossevangen in western Norway once again dominated the Champions’ League, taking both Best Overall Wine List and Best Wine-by-the-Glass List.
In the main competition, judges named winners in 22 categories spanning long, medium, short and micro lists, regional collections, by-the-glass programmes, sake, spirits, design, value and originality, with additional awards for hotel lists, wine bars, airlines and cruise lines. Six Champions’ League titles and 15 Jury Prizes completed the roll of honour, with winners spread across five continents.
The United States was the dominant force in this year’s results, with venues collecting ten awards in the main competition, two Champions’ League titles and a string of runner-up spots. New York City underlined its status as a serious wine hub, with Kru taking the global award for Best Micro Wine List and One White Street named global winner of Best Half-Bottle Wine List.
The UK also featured strongly. In London, 67 Pall Mall was runner-up for Best Wine-by-the-Glass List (with Coravin®), Blandford Comptoir was shortlisted for Best Medium-Sized Wine List, and Frog by Adam Handling made the shortlist for Best Designed Wine List, while The Grape Escape in Cheltenham secured the Best Value Wine List title.
Sydney enjoyed a standout night, with Shell House winning Best Medium-Sized Wine List and The Wine Bar at The International taking Best Short Wine List. Elsewhere in the world, Einstein Gourmet in St Gallen was recognised for Best Large-Format Wine List, Blue Penny Cellar in Mauritius took Best Long Wine List and Wunderbrunnen, also in Switzerland, was named Best Dessert & Fortified Wine List.
The evening closed on a more personal note with the launch of the Guiding Spirit Awards for Wine in Hospitality, created to honour individuals whose influence has shaped modern wine service. Sponsored by T-Oinos, the inaugural awards went to Harald Bresselschmidt, Doug Govan, HO Kin Fung, Pascaline Lepeltier, Valeria Mortara and Josep Roca of El Celler de Can Roca in Girona.
“I’m very proud to have received this honour and recognition. It’s important for us, El Celler de Can Roca, but also for me,” said Roca on receiving his award from Percival. “It’s not just about the tangibles, it’s about recognising the emotional importance behind the wines and also the vines.”
2026 World’s Best Wine Lists Awards
Entries are now open for the 2026 World’s Best Wine Lists Awards, hosted by The World of Fine Wine, part of Ascend Media’s family of luxury titles alongside Elite Traveler, Spear’s and the soon-to-launch World of Fine Spirits. Restaurants, bars, hotels, airlines and cruise lines are invited to submit their lists for consideration by the independent international judging panel.
Early-bird entry runs until 19 December 2025, with entries closing on 6 March 2026. Regional winners will be revealed online on 23 June 2026, ahead of the Global Winners announcement at The Savoy, London, on 21 September 2026.
Submit your entries for the 2026 World’s Best Wine Lists Awards here.
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Notes to Editors
Full details of the World’s Best Wine Lists Awards 2025 winners, including regional and global category prizes, can be found here.
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