Apéritif Restaurant received a Silver Star at Star Wine List of the Year Southeast Asia 2026, announced on 21 April at ProWine Singapore. The restaurant was a finalist in the Best Medium List category, which covers wine lists of 200 to 600 references, and was the only Indonesian venue among the finalists.
Many of Apéritif’s guests return often. For them, the result confirms a list they already know well.
The Star Wine List Programme
Star Wine List is an international wine list awards programme founded in Sweden in 2018. It hosts events from September to June each season, and the 2025 to 2026 season held competitions across 14 regions alongside an online contest, culminating in a Global Final in southern Sweden in June.
Submitted lists are assessed by a panel drawn from the wine industry. The Southeast Asia edition was judged by Masters of Wine Richard Hemming and Stephen Wong together with Ferran Centelles of elBullifoundation, and the results were revealed at ProWine Singapore before an audience of sommeliers from across the region.
The structure of the awards is worth stating plainly. Category winners receive a Gold Star. The remaining finalists in each category receive a Silver Star. Reaching the finalist stage means a list has been read closely by that panel and judged against the strongest programmes in the region.
The Cellar in the Dining Room
The cellar at Apéritif is not kept behind a door. It sits open within the Art Deco dining room, held in controlled conditions and visible from the tables throughout service, and the sommelier team draws from it as the evening runs. The main dining room seats 60, and the wine is stored in the room where it is poured.
That arrangement is a working decision rather than a display. A list read at the table, next to the bottles it describes, is a different conversation from one conducted through a wine list alone.
The range is broad. France anchors it, with Burgundy and Bordeaux running from village wines through to celebrated estates, alongside the Rhône and a Champagne selection that spans entry-level houses to the prestige cuvées. Italy contributes Barolo and Brunello, Amarone from the Veneto, and skin contact wines from Friuli. Spain, Australia, Napa Valley, Argentina, New Zealand and South Africa are all represented.
A Cellar Favourites section showcases bottles the sommelier team has personally chosen, grouped by enthusiasm rather than by region. It is the clearest view of how the list is put together.
Wine Across Guided by the Moon
The list finds its purpose alongside Guided by the Moon, the degustation menu structured on the phases of the lunar cycle. The menu draws on Indonesian regional cooking and finishes it through European technique, moving through a sequence that changes in weight from one course to the next.
The formal pairing runs in seven-course and five-course configurations, depending on the degustation the table has taken, and is offered across all menus, including the vegetarian and vegan degustations.
Each pairing is built course by course. Tuna with romesco, mango salad and pindang sauce calls for acidity and freshness. Beef cheek with Coto Makassar and beef consommé needs depth and structure to hold against the broth. The chocolate course with tamarind and almond needs a wine that can meet 70% chocolate without being flattened by it. The pairings are set before service and adjusted as the menu changes with the seasons.
A Coravin system allows selected bottles to be poured by the glass in 125ml measures without drawing the cork. That puts wines normally sold only by the bottle within reach of a single course, broadening what a pairing conversation can include.
A List Built Beside the Food
The Silver Star recognises the list rather than the kitchen, but the two are planned together, which is the reason the cellar sits in the room where the food is served. Under the culinary artistry of the Apéritif team, the menu and the list move on the same seasonal cycle, and a change to one is a change to both.
Guided by the Moon is served each evening from 6 pm to 8.30 pm in the Art Deco dining room above Valley of the Kings, and at lunch from 12 pm to 2 pm with 24 hours’ notice. Reservations can be made online.
