This year's Leccio d'Oro prize, awarded annually by the Brunello di Montalcino consortium, went to the Michelin-star restauarant A Voce Columbus, New York (USA), the trattoria Enoteca Divino Edinburgh, Scotland (UK) and the historic Cantine Isole of Milan (Italy).
The prize was established in 1994, with Il Montalcino restaurant of Milan the first winner. First foreign winner followed in 1995, with the nomination of Valentino of Los Angeles (USA).
Subsequently, the prize has been given to restaurants and wine bars worldwide with the best wine lists representing Brunello and other Montalcino wines in Germany, Japan, Belgium, USA, Switzerland, Denmark, UK, Hong Kong and Italy .
The award is part of the Benvenuto Brunello event, staged at Montalcino every February, when the new wines are presented to wine experts and writers. This year, the vintage of 2010, which obtained the top five stars, denoting “exceptional”, in the Brunello Official Vintage Ratings, was much in demand. Other exceptional vintages listed are 2004, 2006 and 2007.
