Best International Hotel Restaurant List: Glass Brasserie, Sydney

Fancy a Corton Charlemagne or a Kistler chardonnay from Carneros? Perhaps the ’96 Salon Le Mesnil while deciding between a DRC, a Lafite and a Mouton with your mains? Or, if you prefer, simply settle for a glass of a mature Mount Pleasant semillon with a Tassie pinot to follow. Whatever your preference, whatever your budget and whatever you’ve decided to eat, Glass’s outstanding list of more than 1000 wines, with 38 by the glass and 18 halves, provides a multiplicity of choices at a range of prices.

In compiling the list, sommeliers Kim Bickley and Mauro Bortolato have balanced wines by the great names from the great regions and vintages of the world with a comprehensive global selection at moderate prices.

But the real excitement in the list is in the excursions into the nooks and crannies of the vinous world for wines such as the golden gems of Jurançon, favourites of the French novelist Colette, who said they were “as treacherous as any great seducer”. Perhaps you might discover a malbec from Lulunta in the small Andean Luján de Cuyo valley behind Mendoza in Argentina, or the passito wines from the island of Pantelleria, off Sicily.

Thirty-eight pages showcasing 1000 wines can be intimidating for even the most knowledgeable if they’re not set out clearly. This list achieves that with tasting notes accompanying the by-the-glass selection, varietals and countries separately defined, and vintage charts and regional maps covering Australia and New Zealand provided for easy reference.

A deserved winner.

Glass Brasserie, Level 2, 488 George St, Sydney, NSW, (02) 9265 6068, www.glassbrasserie.com.au.

TEXT GRAEME PHILLIPS

This article appeared in the August/September 2008 issue of Gourmet Traveller WINE.