Best Restaurants For Wine 2018: Georgia Has 55 Award Winners

ATLANTA, GA — 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. In Georgia, 55 restaurants made the prestigious list of 3,759 restaurants worldwide with outstanding wine selections, although none of them earned the Grand Award.

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 Georgia, 10 received the Best of Award of Excellence and 45 earned the Award of Excellence honor.

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Here are all Wine Spectator listings for Georgia venues:

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

• Aria Restaurant, 490 East Paces Ferry Road N.E., Atlanta
• Atlas Buckhead, The St. Regis Atlanta, 88 W. Paces Ferry Road
• Barcelona Wine Bar, 240 North Highland Ave. N.E., Atlanta
• Barcelona Wine Bar, 1085 Howell Mill Road, Atlanta
• E. Bones, 3130 Piedmont Road N.E., Atlanta
• Canoe, 4199 Paces Ferry Road S.E., Atlanta
• Georgian Room, Sea Island Resorts, 100 Cloister Drive, Sea Island
• Local 11 Ten Food & Wine, 1110 Bull St., Savannah
• Restaurant Eugene, 2277 Peachtree Road N.E., Atlant
• White Oak Kitchen & Cocktails, 270 Peachtree St., Atlanta

AWARD OF EXCELLENCE
(2,453 restaurants nationwide)

• American Cut Steakhouse Buckhead, 3035 Peachtree Road N.E., Atlanta
• Beechwood Inn, 220 Beechwood Drive, Clayton
• Bentleys Steakhouse, Atlanta Airport Marriott, 4711 Best Road, College Park
• Blue Ridge Grill, 1261 W. Paces Ferry Road, Atlanta
• Café Lily, 308B W. Ponce de Leon Ave., Decatur
• City Winery Atlanta, 650 North Ave. N.E., Atlanta
• Crú Food & Wine Bar, 300 Avalon Blvd., Alpharetta
• Davio's Northern Italian Steakhouse, 3500 Peachtree Road N.E., Atlanta
• Del Frisco's Grille, 3376 Peachtree Road N.E., Atlanta
• Epic Restaurant, 1201 Front Ave, Columbus
• Fleming's Prime Steakhouse & Wine Bar, 4501 Olde Perimeter Way, Atlanta
• Fogo de Chão, 3101 Piedmont Road, Atlanta
• Fogo de Chão, 4671 Ashford Dunwoody Road, Dunwoody
• King + Duke, 3060 Peachtree Road N.E., Atlanta
• Le Bilboquet, 3027 Bolling Way N.E., Atlanta
• Legal Sea Foods, 275 Baker St. N.W., Atlanta
• Marcel, 1170 Howell Mill Road, Atlanta
• McKendrick's Steak House, 4505 Ashford Dunwoody Road, Atlanta
• Morton's, The Steakhouse, 303 Peachtree St. N.E., Atlanta
• New York Prime, 3424 Peachtree Road, N.E., Atlanta
• Osteria Mattone, 1095 Canton St., Roswell
• Pampas Steakhouse, 10970 State Bridge Road, Johns Creek
• Piastra, 45 W. Park Square, Marietta
• Ray's At Killer Creek, 1700 Mansell Road, Alpharetta
• Ray's In The City, 240 Peachtree St. N.W., Atlanta
• Ray's On The River, 6700 Powers Ferry Road, Sandy Springs
• Ruth's Chris Steak House, Embassy Suites Centennial Park, 267 Marietta St., Atlanta
• Ruth's Chris Steak House, Embassy Suites - Buckhead, 3285 Peachtree Road, Atlanta
• Ruth's Chris Steak House, 11655 Haynes Bridge Road, Alpharetta
• Ruth's Chris Steak House, Embassy Suites, 620 Chastain Road, Kennesaw
• Ruth's Chris Steak House, 111 W. Bay St., Savannah
• Seasons 52, 3050 N.W. Peachtree Road, Atlanta
• Seasons 52, 90 Perimeter Center W., Dunwoody
• Sotto Sotto, 313 N. Highland Ave., Atlanta
• St. Cecilia, 3455 Peachtree Road N.E., Atlanta
• Terra Terroir, 3974 Peachtree Road N.E., Brookhaven
• The Capital Grille, 255 E. Paces Ferry Road, Atlanta
• The Capital Grille, 94 Perimeter Center W., Dunwoody
• The National Tavern, 1145 National Drive, Greensboro
• The Oceanaire Seafood Room, 1100 Peachtree St. N.W., Atlanta
• The Overlook at Great Waters, Reynolds Lake Oconee, 110 Great Waters Drive, Eatonton
• The Palm Atlanta, Westin Hotel, 3391 Peachtree Road N.E., Atlanta
• Umi, 3050 Peachtree Road N.W., Atlanta
• Village Tavern, 11555 Rainwater Drive, Alpharetta
• di Paolo, 5850 Holcomb Bridge Road, Alpharetta

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.

Photo via Shutterstock / media_digital