Which Connecticut restaurants made Wine Spectators’ list of best wine lists?
Wine Spectator’s annual list of the best wine lists in the world includes 33 Connecticut restaurants, the same number as last year, it was announced this week.
The awards, which honor 3,169 restaurants worldwide, are in three tiers: Award of Excellence, Best Award of Excellence and Grand Award Winner. No Connecticut restaurant won the Grand Award.
Five newcomers are on this year’s list, all winning Awards of Excellence for the first time: Union Kitchen in West Hartford, The Shipwright’s Daughter in Mystic, Gabriele’s of Westport, Townhouse in Greenwich and Vyne Restaurant & Bar in Middlebury.
An equal number of restaurants, five, dropped off the list from last year: Café Aura in Manchester, Moon in Greenwich, Arethusa al tavolo in Litchfield, Cava in Southington and Ruth’s Chris Steak House in Newington.
In January, Zach Shuman, owner of Union Kitchen, hired Vish Badami, a trained sommelier, as his general manager. The goal was to improve Union’s wine list. Since January, Badami said, Union Kitchen’s wine list has increased from 22 to 106 wines available by the bottle.
“People who are extremely knowledgable about wine come to West Hartford Center looking for unique wines,” Badami said. “We started off with wines in everybody’s comfort zones. But people came in looking for more obscure grapes. We had an opportunity to bring something unique to the West Hartford Center market. The staff is excited to sell these wines.”
Three restaurants moved up from last year, from the Award of Excellence to Best Award of Excellence: Kensington’s at The Spa at Norwich Inn; Tony’s at the J House in Riverside; and The Restaurant at Rowayton Seafood.
Fife ‘N Drum in Kent is the longest-running Connecticut restaurant on Wine Spectator’s list, being named annually since 1991 and ranked Best of Award of Excellence since 1992.
Other restaurants winning The Best Award of Excellence, repeating from previous years, are: Artisan in Southport and West Hartford; Barcelona in Norwalk, Stamford, Fairfield, New Haven and West Hartford; Caputo Trattoria at Foxwoods Resort Casino; David Burke Prime Steakhouse at Foxwoods Resort Casino; L’Escale in Greenwich; La Foresta in Killingworth; Nouveau Monde in Sandy Hook; and Winvian Farm Restaurant in Morris.
Other restaurants winning The Award of Excellence, repeating from previous years, are: Millwright’s in Simsbury; Shell and Bones Oyster Bar and Grill in New Haven; The Capital Grille in Hartford and Stamford; The Essex in Old Saybrook; Rebecca’s in Greenwich; The Griswold Inn in Essex; Viron Rondo Osteria in Cheshire; Washington Prime in South Norwalk; 2 Hopewell Bistro in Glastonbury; and Castello Restaurant in Danbury.
Susan Dunne can be reached at sdunne@courant.com.
