This year's honorees include 106 restaurants from Colorado, including two Grand Award winners: the Flagstaff House, in Boulder, and Montagna at the Little Nell, in Aspen. Those restaurants have held the top honor for several years now: The Flagstaff House first received the honor in 1983, just two years after the award was established, while Montagna scored its Grand Award in 1997, Both are part of a group of just 75 restaurants worldwide with serious enough and extensive enough lists to make the cut. In order to be considered for the award, a restaurant's wine list must surmount 1,500 bottles.
First-time winners of any award in Colorado include both the Ranch House Restaurant & Saloon and Heck's at Devil's Thumb Ranch in Tabernash and Shanahan's Steakhouse, which opened Christmas Eve of last year and boasts a list of 460 selections. Those three restaurants garnered Awards of Excellence, given for lists of at least 100 well-planned selections.