The results of this year’s Star Wine List of the Year Belgium competition have been revealed at an awards ceremony in Antwerp, with Gold Stars awarded in 11 categories to 10 different establishments located in Brussels, Bruges, Antwerp, Ghent, Maarkedal and Zwevegem.
September 23, 2026 (Stockholm, Sweden) — In the fourth edition of Star Wine List of the Year Belgium, Star Wine List’s Founder and Publisher Krister Bengtsson travelled to Antwerp to announce the judges’ winners at a private celebration hosted at Marcel restaurant.
“By now it’s no surprise that the average quality of wine lists in Belgium is extremely high,” commented Jonathan Gouveia MS, who assessed the country’s wine lists alongside fellow judges Stephen Wong MW and Paz Levinson.
“There’s a really cool balance of wine lists catering to the more traditional and as well the more progressive wine drinkers. I think the best-kept secret is that, if you’re a francophile, you can drink some of the stuff you have a hard time finding in France here in Belgium, and you can even do it at better prices!”
There were two Gold Stars for Maarkedal’s Paul de Pierre, which has performed impressively in previous competitions, with former winners Restaurant Sans Caravate (Bruges) and d’Oude Schuur (Sint-Martens-Latem) also taking 2026 Gold Stars. Happily, there was a first-time Gold Star for Zwevegem’s L’Envie in the hotly contested Best Long List category, in their second year making the finalist stage.
Winners in the 10 ‘international’ categories will now automatically be entered into the Star Wine List of the Year Global Final, which will round out this season’s awards tour once all other regional events have taken place, in June 2027.
GOLD STAR WINNERS:
INTERNATIONAL CATEGORIES
Best Long List (for wine lists with more than 600 references)
L’Envie, Zwevegem
Best Medium-Sized List (200-600 references)
Restaurant Stable, Antwerp
Best Short List (fewer than 200 references)
InVINcible, Antwerp
Best By-the-Glass List, presented by Le Wine / BERMAR
Racines Bruxelles, Brussels
Best Sparkling Wine List
Restaurant Sans Cravate, Bruges
Best Rosé Wine List, presented by Château d’Esclans
Paul de Pierre, Maarkedal
Best Newcomer List, presented by New Generation Wines from Georgia
Jambon Violon, Liège
Sustainability Prize, presented by Oddbird
L’Air du Temps, Liernu
Best Austrian Wine List, presented by Austrian Wine
Paul de Pierre, Maarkedal
Special Jury Prize (rewards a wine lovers’ place that does something out of the ordinary)
d’Oude Schuur, Sint-Martens-Latem
LOCAL CATEGORIES
Best California Wine List, presented by Rombauer Vineyards
VINES by maQUINZE, Ostend
About Star Wine List
Star Wine List is the international wine lovers’ guide to great wine bars and restaurants. Available as an app and at starwinelist.com, it was launched in Stockholm, Sweden in 2017, and is now live in more than 45 countries. All venues are selected by top wine professionals for the quality of their wine programmes.
The Star Wine List of the Year competition celebrates the wonderful wine lists of the world and the dedicated sommelier teams who create them. Since its inception in 2018, this global tour has evolved to cover numerous territories. Its highly anticipated awards events recognise excellence in the wine and hospitality industries, and culminate in a Global Final each summer.
