August 10, 2010

Wine Spectator Magazine Awards Monettes with 'Best of Award of Excellence'

Kohala Coast, Hawai‘ i Island – The much anticipated Annual Restaurant Wine Awards issue of the venerable Wine Spectator magazine (August 31, 2010 edition) was published last week and is available now at bookstores worldwide.

Monettes Artisan Fish and Steak restaurant, located at the prestigious Mauna Kea Beach Resort, is the recipient of the publication’s coveted “Best of Award of Excellence” award. Wine Spectator magazine, the premier publication on wine, food and travel – read by wine and food aficionados world-wide – honored Monettes in “special recognition of a wine list that displays vintage depth and excellent breadth across several regions, in particular Bordeaux, Burgundy and California.”

Monettes is the only restaurant on Hawaii Island to be honored with the publication’s “Best of Award of Excellence” this year, and is one of just five restaurants in the state to be recognized with the award in 2010.

The winners this year, the editors write are “located from coast to coast and around the globe, their cellars are stocked with interesting and rare selections and staffed by passionate professionals eager to provide you with a memorable dining experience perfected by just the right bottle.”

Marking its 30th annual compilation of the world's greatest wine lists in 2010, Wine Spectator’s panel of experts selected more than 3,000 winners spread across the United States and an additional 743 located in 60 countries around the globe. The three distinct award categories are: Award of Excellence, Best of Award of Excellence, and Grand Award Winner.  

The publication defines the Best of Award of Excellence as a category “created to give special recognition to restaurants the clearly exceed the requirements of the Award of Excellence. Typically these wine lists offer 400 or more selections with superior presentation and display either vintage depth, with several vertical offerings of top wines and/or excellent breadth across several wine regions.”

“While we are thrilled and humbled to receive this award, and to be in the company of some of the world’s most acclaimed restaurants, the challenge is on! We hope to be hanging the Grand Award of Excellence plaque on our wall sometime soon,” Scott Monette, co-owner with his brother Executive Chef Mark Monette, said.

“Presenting a well-balanced selection of wines – older vintages alongside new releases and Old World wines together with exciting New World offerings – to our guests is something my family has been committed to for decades,” Chef Monette said.

And while Monettes Artisan Fish and Steak is celebrating just 18 months of operation on Hawaii Island, the Monette family has owned and managed the respected Flagstaff House in Boulder, Colorado, for nearly 40 years.

“We are extremely fortunate to have had our Wine Spectator “Grand Award of Excellence” wine cellar at Flagstaff House accessible to us in building our wine program here at Monettes,” Scott Monette said. “The rare and older vintages in that collection, along with vertical selections from internationally acclaimed vineyards, allowed us to create a list with great depth that otherwise would have been extremely challenging, especially in the current economic environment,” he added.

The August 31 issue of Wine Spectator magazine features the 2010 Restaurant Wine List Award winners – a “roadmap for your wining and dining pleasure in… restaurants around the globe”, according to magazine promotional materials.

Monettes was founded by brothers Mark and Scott Monette in early 2009. The brothers also own and operate the award-winning Flagstaff House in Boulder, Colorado. Monettes Artisan Fish and Steak features the finest meats and freshest seafood in one of the world’s most beautiful tropical settings. It is all delivered with the warm, professional service the Monette family has become known for over the past 38 years.