Restaurant Spotlight

The Australian Wine List of the Year (AWLOTY) awards celebrate restaurants where the wine program is integral to the dining experience — not just a good selection sitting quietly at the back of the menu. Here are the rooms that defined 2026.

Inside the Sydney Opera House, Bennelong showcases Australian wine with a list exceeding 1,200 labels — a Three Glass program with deep verticals and rare back-vintages. A short walk around the harbour, Peter Gilmore's Quay matches culinary innovation with a cellar of remarkable depth, balancing classic European producers against the country's most restless new makers.

In Melbourne, Shannon Bennett's Vue de Monde atop the Rialto offers one of Australia's most prestigious cellars, with particular strength in Burgundy and the Yarra Valley, while Ben Shewry's Attica pairs indigenous ingredients with a list that cheerfully challenges convention. And on the Gold Coast, a 24-seat room called Eddy + Wolff proved a small, fiercely curated list can share the same stage as the giants.

What sets these restaurants apart is never the raw bottle count. AWLOTY judges assess curation, staff knowledge, value across price points, glassware, and — above all — how completely the list complements the food in front of you.