PORTLAND, Jan. 3, 2018 — The votes have been cast, the results have been tallied, and City Winery Restaurant Group has emerged the winner of the 2018 Oregon Wine A-List Wine Program of the Year.
The Wine Program of the Year winner sets a standard of excellence for an Oregon wine restaurant program with its depth and breadth of Oregon selections, participation in Oregon Wine Month, and educational opportunities for staff and clientele alike. City Winery exemplifies these qualifiers as it has a well-curated, diverse selection of producers and both traditional and uncommon varieties of Oregon wines. They also host numerous Oregon wine events and make a house wine from Oregon grapes, which helps to increase visibility of the state on their house wine list, all done on a large scale.
As well as one Wine Program of the Year winner, there are 129 restaurants on the 2018 Oregon Wine A-List, spanning from Portland to New York City and Stockholm to Tokyo. The nomination window was open to the public from January to October, and all nominations were evaluated on the criteria of Oregon-based restaurants offering customers at least 30% of their wines or 30 producers from Oregon, and restaurants outside of Oregon having wine lists with 10 producers or 10% of the total list comprised of Oregon wines.
Says Oregon Wine Board president Tom Danowski, “The fantastic thing about our A-List restaurant program is that it shines a light on some of the world’s most passionate advocates for Oregon—the fine wine directors and restaurateurs—who go out of their way to showcase Oregon wines on their lists. We feel they should be rewarded for introducing more Oregon wines in the country’s top markets and we want to say thank you for the support.”
With five locations—Chicago, Boston, NYC, Atlanta and Nashville—City Winery is headed by founder and CEO Michael Dorf and is a fully functioning winery (the first in NYC) and fine dining establishment hosting concerts, food and wine classes, and private events. Dorf and City Winery’s national wine director Rachel Driver Speckan are particularly pleased about the designation of City Winery as 2018 Oregon Wine A-List Program of the Year. “Both Rachel and I are so delighted with this honor,” said Dorf. “Putting on a wide variety of Oregon wines with the deep terroir differences between winemaking areas of the state, and showcasing all the delicious flavors Pinot noir has to offer, make our wine lists sing. We love turning our customers on to what we feel is the most exciting wine region in America.”
The Oregon Wine A-List Awards program is a partnership between Oregon Wine Press and Oregon Wine Board. It was founded in 2015 to recognize restaurants around the world that display deep appreciation, enthusiasm and support for Oregon wines as seen in the diversity of regions and varieties on their wine lists. To see the full 2018 A-List, make a nomination for the 2019 A-List and for more information, please visit www.oregonwinealist.com.
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About Oregon Wine Press
Oregon Wine Press is a monthly consumer publication dedicated to Oregon wine, Pinot noir, food, vineyards, winemakers, and insider-industry happenings. Established in 1984, OWP was acquired and re-imagined in 2006 by the News-Register Publishing Co., which is located in the heart of Oregon wine country, McMinnville, Oregon. Visit oregonwinepress.com.
About the Oregon Wine Board
The Oregon Wine Board is a semi-independent Oregon state agency managing marketing, research and education initiatives that support and advance the Oregon wine and wine grape industry. The Board works on behalf of all Oregon wineries and independent growers throughout the state’s diverse winegrowing regions. Visit oregonwine.org.
