One venue has been named as Australia’s Best Listing of Queensland Wines, another Australia’s Best Listing of US Wines.
Australia’s Wine List of the Year Awards were announced in late September, with Melbourne restaurant Circl taking out the 2025 crown.
But for the first time in the 32-year history of the awards – regarded as the industry yardstick for restaurant wine lists in Australia – it has followed up by announcing the top 10 lists by state and territory. In Queensland, the unranked top 10 were all drawn from the south-east.
In Brisbane, wood-fired Agnes (the top-rated Queensland restaurant at this year’s national awards), Greek restaurant Hellenika, hidden Japanese spot Honto, CBD eatery Blackbird, James Street icon Cru Bar, elevated Italian restaurant Otto, and steak restaurant SK Steak and Oyster all made the cut.
Rounding out the top 10 were Maroochydore’s Market Bistro, Gold Coast’s Nineteen at the Star and Noosa’s Sails Restaurant.
It was Agnes’ third consecutive year taking out the top spot in Queensland, while Blackbird was named Australia’s Best Listing of Queensland Wines, and Cru Bar Australia’s Best Listing of US Wines.
It marks a strong 2025 showing from Queensland restaurants, and Brisbane restaurants in particular. But local venues have been slowing flexing their way into the awards for the past decade, with the (now closed) Aria Brisbane taking out the national award in 2018, and Cru Bar doing the same in 2022.
“The selection and quality of Queensland wine lists has grown considerably over the years,” said awards judge Jeni Port. “When the awards started in 1993 there was little to get excited about with the lists coming out of the state and that included Brisbane.
“[That] has slowly changed and certainly gained momentum over the past 10 years. There is more professionalism being shown – an impression that can also be applied across the country – with full-time, serious, professional sommeliers now in charge of some of the most exciting wine lists in the country.”
Port says she first noticed the change with lists coming out of Fortitude Valley and the CBD that could take on the best in Melbourne and Sydney.
“They weren’t necessarily the biggest lists in the number of wines offered,” Port said, “but they were exciting, thought-provoking and looked to emerging trends such as low intervention wines, sustainability, chilled reds, the rise of women winemakers and styles such as skin contact whites and no/low alcohol options.
“Importantly, for the state’s wine producers, many started to embrace Queensland wines. There was no longer a cultural cringe shown on Queensland wine lists against Queensland wines and good sommeliers went about sourcing some exciting wines.”
Australia’s Wine List of the Year Awards were established in 1993 by Tucker Seabrook, Rob Hirst and the late Judy Hirst. They are recognised as the country’s most prestigious awards program for wine and beverage lists.
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Matt Shea is Food and Culture Editor at Brisbane Times. He is a former editor and editor-at-large at Broadsheet Brisbane, and has written for Escape, Qantas Magazine, the Guardian, Jetstar Magazine and SilverKris, among many others.
