AZ’s Wine Spectator’s 2016 Restaurant Award Winners

There is no question that our favorite Arizona restaurants serve innovative and sometimes surprising dishes. These creations not only feed your hunger, they satiate your soul for a moment in time. These exquisite restaurants have been gaining high praise for their bar programs recently as well, and deservedly.

Arizona restaurants have a major presence on the 2016 Wine Spectator Restaurant Awards, and we could be more delighted for those individuals. Wine Spectator, the world’s leading authority on wine, has released the winners of the 2016 Restaurant Awards, which recognize outstanding wine programs. For this year’s awards, Wine Spectator launched two exciting entities; the official Restaurant Awards app and the newly minted Restaurants.WineSpectator.com, which together provide patrons the best guides to restaurants that deliver exceptional wine experiences.

The 2016 Wine Spectator Restaurant Awards

This program was started by Wine Spectator to acknowledge the best wine lists in the world back in 1981. The program consists of three levels:

The Award of Excellence (2,414 winners) The Award of Excellence recognizes restaurants whose wine lists feature a well-chosen assortment of quality producers along with a thematic match to the menu in both price and style.
The Best of Award of Excellence (1,093 winners) Best of Award of Excellence recipients offer more extensive selections with significant vintage depth and excellent breadth across multiple regions.
The Grand Award (88 winners) The Grand Award is the program’s highest honor. This elite group comprises the world’s best wine programs, which deliver serious breadth of top producers, outstanding depth in mature vantages, a selection of large-format bottles, excellent harmony with the menu and superior presentation. Wine Spectator carefully assesses each Grand Award candidate, including rigorous independent, on-site inspections of the wine program, cellar, service, ambiance and cuisine of the restaurant. Amazingly, seven of The Grand Award winners are first timers to the list.

“On behalf of Wine Spectator, I’m thrilled to congratulate each and every award-winning restaurant. They should be very proud,” said Marvin R. Shanken, Editor and Publisher, Wine Spectator. “With the debut of the Restaurant Awards app and digital platform, wine lovers now have exciting new resources they can take advantage of and enjoy.”

So Which Arizona Restaurants Made the List?

Available for free in the App Store, the Restaurant Awards app allows iPhone and iPad users to easily find nearby award-winning restaurants, with maps, plus helpful information about cuisine, wine and pricing.

The complete list of award winners is available in print in Wine Spectator’s August issue, on newsstands July 19; online at Restaurants.WineSpectator.com, where visitors can search and access exclusive content on the more than 3,500 restaurants; and on iOS via the Restaurant Awards app, which allows users to look for dining spots in any location, choosing by wine strengths, cuisine type, pricing and more.

You can follow the Restaurant Awards on Twitter and Instagram, and join the conversation by using #WSRestaurantAward.

Congratulations to all of the Arizona winners! Keep up the great culinary and bar programs!

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© Taryn Jeffries 2016