Restaurants love to bandy about in awards they've received, often plastering their website, or even their eatery's window, with framed accolades delivered by various awards groups. Did James Beard think your roast duck was tops? Tell the world! And because every magazine believes its stamp of authenticity is worth something, many have developed their own awards, which make for excellent listicles to be trumpeted on the cover with numbers in their headlines. (For some magazines, these awards are also excellent revenue centers.)

Wine Spectator, then, is a magazine that hands out awards to restaurants that meet its strict criteria in offering customers a robust and well-selected wine list to accompany their roast duck and pappardelle bolognese. Its Awards of Excellence tell readers which restaurants around the world are their best bets for finding the perfect cab sav or pinot blanc.

Sometimes, though, Wine Spectator will — after vigorous scoring, lengthy research, and heated debate — recommend you visit a restaurant that does not exist.

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