Doylestown Restaurant Wins Prestigious Wine Spectator Award

DOYLESTOWN BOROUGH, PA —A Doylestown Borough upscale cocktail lounge and restaurant has won an international award for its curated wine list.

Four short months after opening at 46 East State Street, Frost Lounge has earned a 2023 Wine Spectator Award for its wine offerings. It is the first time a Doylestown establishment has won the prestigious award, according to Frost’s owner Uri Abrams.

“We are thrilled,” said Abrams, who opened Frost in February as a private club and a New York-style Martini Lounge. “It’s a major award. And being the first ever in the history of Doylestown to receive it adds an additional level of excitement, pride, and enthusiasm. You are recognized as one out of 3,500 in the world, not in Bucks County, not in PA, not in the U.S., but in the world. You’re going against the Peruvian wine bars. You’re going against the Venetian wine bars. And out of the 3,500 awardees, 794 are new. And we were one of them in the world.”

Added Frost’s head sommelier and wine director, Jenn McMahon-Drutz, “This is such an honor to be bestowed with this amazing award. I am absolutely thrilled. This is a big deal for us because we are so new. It’s a big accomplishment. And it’s an honor to join a league of other restaurants who have gotten this.”

Frost’s sommelier Jenn McMahon-Drutz and owner Uri Abrams with the award. (photo by Jeff Werner)

McMahon-Drutz joined Frost as a sommelier a few short months ago, leaving Del Frisco’s Steakhouse in Philadelphia to curate the wine selection at Frost. Del Frisco’s also won a Wine Spectator Award this year.

The Award of Excellence is given to restaurants offering well-curated lists with approximately 90 selections or more. These lists feature quality producers and wines that diners wouldn’t easily find at local wine stores and drink at home.

The wine selections also match the restaurant’s cuisine in both style and pricing, giving guests a well-rounded experience.

This year, only 2,001 restaurants from around the world achieved the Award of Excellence, including four in Bucks County - Frost Lounge in Doylestown and Ferry & Main at the Logan Inn, Nektar and Odette’s in New Hope.

When she submitted Frost’s wine list to this year’s competition, McMahon-Drutz said she was hopeful. “But a lot of people put in for this award. A lot of people want to be considered. It’s a worldwide award and anything could have happened.”

Frost’s wine list offers an eclectic mix of wines from around the world, including Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Greece and California. Some of its brands include E. Guigal, Frog’s Leap, Brunello di Montalcino and Bertani just to name a few.

“Our wine list is under 100 bottles and there are thousands of wine regions around the world so we focus in on the ones we are most devoted to and that our guests would most enjoy,” said McMahon-Drutz.

(Photo by Jeff Werner)

“It’s a very curated list,” she added. “It’s not a huge list. We don’t have hundreds and hundreds of bottles. But it’s really thoughtful. Making out a wine list is very intentional. It has to be part of a well-rounded, curated vision or it doesn’t go.”

Frost stocks between 1200 and 1500 bottles representing about 90 to 100 different winemakers. Prices range from $80 a bottle to more than $1500.

“One of our goals, when we opened Frost, was that a good wine experience doesn’t have to break the bank,” said Abrams. “Yes, we have those big names that will cost many hundreds of dollars, but that’s not what we focus on. We operate in the reasonable budgetary medium and try and provide our guests an enjoyable wine experience.”

Frost’s small size and budgetary constraints made developing its list a lot more challenging, said Abrams, noting that the award is not broken down by size so a small restaurant like Frost is competing on equal footing with the likes of Capital Grill in fulfilling the award’s criteria, which requires a diverse representation of the wine regions of the world along with a variety of price points.

That makes the award that much more gratifying for the owners and employees at Frost who have worked to put the new upscale lounge and private club on the map.

“This is really rare in the evolution of Frost for this to have happened,” said McMahon-Drutz. “This is like getting reviewed and getting a three or four-star review within the first four months of being open. It’s impressive,” she said. “And it’s exciting for us. I hope that it will solidify in Doylestown our commitment to bringing great wine to this region.”

Abrams adds, “I want our customers to know that they will always have a good experience here with Jenn being table-side. She will listen to their interests, to their needs, their desires and we will always have a wine to fit their budget, every palate, every interest always. They will always leave here with an enjoyable wine experience.”

Frost is located at 46 E. State Street (Suite G), Doylestown 18901. For more information, visit Frost on the web by clicking here.