Best Restaurants For Wine 2018: Lincoln Park Has 3 Award Winners

CHICAGO, IL —Cheers, Lincoln Park! Wine Spectator, one of the world's leading authorities on wine, has assembled its 2018 list of the Best Restaurants for Wine, based not only on the breadth of vintages in their cellars but also how well wine is paired with entrees. Three restaurants in Lincoln Park were named on the list.

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.

Three restaurants in Lincoln Park were named in two categories (Wine Spectator's ratings below):

• Alinea, 1723 N. Halsted St. - Best of Award of Excellence:
  
  • Wine strengths: France, Burgundy, Champagne, California
  • Pricing: expensive
  • Selections: 800
  • Inventory: 4,200
• Boka, 1729 N. Halsted St. - Award of Excellence:
  • Wine strengths: France
  • Pricing: moderate
  • Selections: 265
  • Inventory: 1,500
• Geja's Cafe, 340 W. Armitage Ave.- Award of Excellence:
  • Wine strengths: California, France
  • Pricing: inexpensive
  • Selections: 225
  • Inventory: 2,300

In Illinois, 93 restaurants made the prestigious list of 3,759 restaurants worldwide with outstanding wine selections.

The Grand 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 Chicago, no restaurants won the Grand Award, but 31 received the Best of Award of Excellence.

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 the list 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.

Photo via Shutterstock / media_digital