There are 6 Italian restaurants among the 96 in the world that stand out for offering the best wine list. They are the ones that Wine Spectator has awarded with the Grand Award, its most prestigious and anticipated recognition among those of the annual Restaurant Awards. The Grand Awards are the prizes that the famous magazine dedicated to the world of wine has awarded since 1981 to those who have achieved thepinnacle of wine service: to restaurants that have no less than a thousand labels in the cellar, with a wide choice of terroirs, producers, formats, vintages, that demonstrate continuous research, and that stand out for the overall experience, and therefore obviously also the food that is paired, offering a first-rate experience.

Which Italian restaurants have the best wine lists?

Among these six award-winning Italian restaurants, some well-known names stand out, but they are not the only ones. In alphabetical order, they are The Ancient Wine Shop of Veronaa «lively and sacred wine centre owned by Amarone producers with a cavernous cellar of over 21,000 bottles; thePinchiorri Wine Shop, three Michelin stars in Florence that has made the history of Italian cuisine (as also underlined by Wine Spectator) and spread the culture of wine with a cellar of 4000 labels; The Peasant Poet of Alberobello which the magazine also cites for the atmosphere of its fifteenth-century rooms as well as for the rich cellar that includes the great verticals of Bordeaux. And again, among the Italian restaurants awarded with the Grand Award by Wine Spectator there is The Ciau of the Tornavento of Cuneo on the hills of Barbaresco which for Wine Spectator is a reference point for tasting Piedmontese labels; The Pergola of Rome, three stars for Heinz Beck on the rooftop of the Hotel Rome Cavalieri, which the magazine also cites for its vintage labels as well as for the excellent selection of Italian and foreign wines. The sixth awarded address is then the Cracco Restaurant in Milaninside the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele, appreciated for its atmosphere, its works of art, and its cellar that mixes Italian and French labels.

Italian restaurants in the world awarded by Wine Spectator

If you look closely, these are not the only Italian presences: Among the 96 restaurants awarded with the Grand Award by Wine Spectator there are also many Italian restaurants abroad. Two examples above all: the famous Fiola of Washington DC of the chef and entrepreneur Fabio Trabocchi, known (also) for being the favorite restaurant of American presidents, and the Don Alfonso House in Macauinside The Grand Lisboa Hotel, one of the Iaccarino family’s foreign addresses, with a cellar of 500 thousand bottles.

What’s new at the Restaurant Awards

In general, Italy is very well represented in the lists of Restaurant Awards Of Wine Spectatorwhich this year includes 3,700 restaurants from all over the world. In addition to the 96 restaurants awarded with the Grand Award (indicated by three glasses), this year the magazine has also published the lists of the winners with the Best Award of Excellence (indicated two glasses, this year there are about 350) which are the restaurants that boast a wine list with at least 350 labels, and with the Award of Excellence (a glass, this year there are 2150) which is instead assigned to restaurants with cellars that offer a minimum of 90 labels from high-level producers. Among all of them, two Italian novelties stand out among the Best Award of Excellence: the first is the restaurant of Le Cattedrali in Asti, the new relais of the Laqua group of chef Antonino Cannavacciuolo, the second is the Osteria del Viandante, in Rubiera.

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