Best Restaurants For Wine 2018: CT Has 29 Award Winners

GREENWICH, CT— Several Connecticut restaurants earned a coveted spot on Wine Spectator’s Best Restaurants for Wine list.

The list is based not only on the breadth of vintages in their cellars but also how well wine is paired with entrees. In Connecticut 29 restaurants made the prestigious list of 3,759 restaurants worldwide with outstanding wine selections.

The lifestyle magazine on wine and wine culture gave awards across three categories — Award of Excellence, Best of Award of Excellence and the Grand Award, which went to only 91 restaurants around the world. Wine Spectator experts inspect all candidates for the Grand Award to evaluate both quality of the dining experience and the cellar.

This award is given to restaurants with world-class cellars and wine lists that typically feature 1,000 or more selections, a breadth of top producers, and outstanding depth in mature vintages and selection of large-format bottles. Restaurants in this category are also evaluated on the presentation of the wine list and the harmony with the menu.

In Connecticut no restaurants won the Grand Award, but 12 won the Best Award of Excellence.

Here are all Wine Spectator listings for Connecticut.

GRAND AWARD
(91 restaurants nationwide)

BEST OF AWARD OF EXCELLENCE
(1,215 restaurants nationwide)

Barcelona Wine and Bar locations in Norwalk, Stamford, Fairfield, New Haven and West Hartford.
David Burke Prime Steakhouse at Foxwoods Casino
Fife ‘N Drum Restaurant and Inn in Kent
Gabriele’s Italian Steakhouse in Greenwich
Kensingtons in Norwich
L’Escale Restaurant in Greenwich
La Foresta Restaurant and Wine Bar in Killingworth
Max Downtown in Hartford

AWARD OF EXCELLENCE
(2,453 restaurants nationwide)

2hopewell in South Glastonbury
Castello Restaurant in Danbury
Del Frisco’s grille in Stamford
Fleming's Prime Steakhouse and Wine Bar in West Hartford
Nouveau Monde Wine Bar and Bistro in Sandy Hook
Rebecca's in Greenwich
Ruth’s Chris Steak House in Newington
Shell and Bones Oyster Bar and Grill in New Haven
Tarry Lodge in New Haven and Westport
The Capital Grille in Stamford and Hartford
The Griswold Inn Wine Bar in Essex
The Restaurant in Mystic
The Waters Edge at Giovanni’s in Darien
Viron Rondo Osteria in Cheshire
Zinc Restaurant in New Haven

Wine Spectator’s 2018 Restaurant Award winners range from neighborhood wine bars that serve small plates to opulent palaces with star chefs and elaborate tasting menus. Getting a mention on it is a pretty big deal for the restaurants.

“A Wine Spectator award tells our guests — current and potential — that our program has been vetted by a panel of experts and deemed amongst the best in the world,” Erik Segelbaum, corporate wine director for the Starr Restaurants group, said in a news release.

Segelbaum, whose restaurants won 16 Wine Spectator awards this year, said they tell “wine-loving guests that visiting one of our restaurants is time and money well spent.” The awards are well regarded domestically and internationally, he said.

“There is no doubt that Wine Spectator reviews and awards are held in the highest regard in the domestic and international community,” he said in the release. “Awards of this nature show our wine-loving guests that visiting one of our restaurants is time and money well spent.”

The restaurants recognized by Wine Spectator are in all 50 U.S. states and 75 countries.

Click here see all the Grand Award winners.

Click here to peruse all winners by metropolitan area.

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