RECOGNIZING EXCELLENCE
19 New Mexico restaurants honored in Wine Spectator’s annual awards
Many New Mexico restaurants have impressive wine lists and some of them were recently recognized for their excellent offerings.
Nineteen restaurants throughout the state were honored with Wine Spectator’s 2021 Restaurant Awards for their various wine strengths. The recipients are Albuquerque’s Seasons 52 (California, International), Scalo (Italy, California), The Acre (California) and Level 5 (California); Arroyo Seco’s Sabroso Restaurant & Bar (California); Los Alamos’ Blue Window Bistro (California); Los Ranchos’ Campo at Los Poblanos Historic Inn & Organic Farm (California, France, New Mexico) and Vernon’s Speakeasy (California); Mescalero’s Wendell’s Steak & Seafood at Inn of the Mountain Gods Resort & Casino; Santa Fe’s Geronimo (California, France), Restaurant Martín (California, France), The Compound Restaurant (California, Italy, France), Andiamo! (Italy), Sazón (Spain, California, Mexico), Luminaria (California), Radish & Rye (California), TerraCotta Wine Bistro (California, France) and Sassella (Italy, France, California); and Santa Teresa’s Billy Crews Dining Room (California, Bordeaux, France, Italy).
The Restaurant Awards honor the best restaurants for wine. The 2021 awards program recognizes 2,917 dining destinations from all 50 states in the U.S. and more than 72 countries internationally, according to a Wine Spectator news release.
The Restaurant Awards, which were launched in 1981, are judged on three levels: the Award of Excellence, the Best of Award of Excellence and the Grand Award. This year, there were 1,673 winners of an Award of Excellence including a majority of the New Mexico recipients; 1,141 winners of the Best of Award of Excellence, including Campo and The Compound Restaurant; and 103 winners of the Grand Award, including Billy Crews Dining Room. The Grand Award is the program’s highest honor, according to the news release.
“A New Mexico mainstay since 1956, this neighborhood restaurant offers steaks custom cut to order and a wine list filled with exciting values, including in the program’s strongest regions of California and Bordeaux,” the Wine Spectator website says of Billy Crews.
Wine Spectator’s special 40th Anniversary Restaurant Awards issue — which also features tributes to past Restaurant Award winners now closed, including 10 Grand Award winners — is now available.