2004 Blankiet Estate Napa Valley Cabernet
Photo: Clinton Stark / Stark Insider.

Wine Spectator magazine has announced it has promoted eight restaurants to “Grand Award” status — as it notes today in a post, “the highest recognition for a restaurant wine list.”

The Bay Area is well represented (and, to be somewhat biased, it could ultimately take all eight slots, no?!), and includes Spruce (San Francisco) and Plumed Horse (Saratoga).

Other winners, granted the top honor, include restaurants from Macao, Florida, Santa Monica, West Palm beach, New York, and Australia.

Per WS criteria, the Grand Award winners typically offer more than 1,000 wine selections, with “superior breadth and depth in many of the world’s classic wine-producing regions.”

The 2015 edition of the awards features over 3,600 restaurants.

Gillian Sciaretta says the final list will be available in the AugustĀ 31 edition of Wine Spectator, which will hit newsstands (digital and print) on July 21.

Meantime, a hearty congratulations from Stark Insider to the stellar teams at Spruce and Plumed Horse!

Contributor to Stark Insider for tech, the arts and All Things West Coast for over 10 years.