The Wine Spectator Restaurant Awards, held in in New York this week, named Christchurch wine bar Cellar Door amongst the best in the world.
Cellar Door won a “Best of” Award of Excellence for their wine programme, which is judged on the quality, representation and diversity of the wine selection, presentation, and suitability for an establishment’s style.
To win a Best of Award of Excellence, a wine list must display excellent breadth across multiple winegrowing regions and/or significant vertical depth of top producers, along with superior presentation.
Typically offering 350 or more selections, these venues are destinations for serious wine lovers, showing a deep commitment to wine, both in the cellar and through their service team.
Cellar Door offers more than 20 curated flights every day, showcasing grape variety, winemaking style, region, terroir, vintage etc, presented together with notes so customers can engage as much as they wish, or just enjoy the wines.
“We are really so stoked to get an award from Wine Spectator, let alone to make the Best of list,” says Tim Ogle, Director and Founder of Cellar Door.
“We have pretty lofty goals, and we always thought if we could meet them we would probably have a world-class product, it’s a real testament to our programme to get this international recognition.
“Our wine programme is a big job and a team effort. Our attention goes into doing our thing as well as we can every day, so we are humbled for a global publication to acknowledge us.”
Cellar Door opened in the historic Christchurch Arts Centre in early 2020. It was named in the Gourmet Traveller World Top 50 Wine Experiences, Cuisine NZ Good Food Guide, and has won “Best Winelist” four years in a row at the local New Zealand Restaurant Association Awards.
Cellar Door one of only two in New Zealand in 2024 to make the Wine Spectator list. The other venue named is Queenstown’s True South Dining Room.
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