The beginning of summer 2024 saw wine experts from all corners of the globe gather in Stockholm for the grand annual gala of Star Wine List — a celebration of the world’s finest wine menus. At the event, the highly regarded guide unexpectedly crowned a restaurant specializing in modern Indian haute cuisine with its highest honor, the International Grand Prix. That restaurant? HAOMA, in Bangkok. Until another takes the crown, it holds the title of Best Wine List in the World.
HAOMA’s accolades are nothing new, and its triumph in the International Grand Prix is just the icing on the cake. The restaurant has already been honored with a Michelin Star, a Green Star, and the Sustainable Restaurant Award 2024 from The World’s 50 Best. And talking about wine, let’s not forget the many other prestigious awards it has received, including the Asia Grand Prix in the same year, 2024, and the Sustainable Wine List of the Year Asia in 2023, by Star Wine List.
It’s truly remarkable that a restaurant in Thailand, dedicated to Indian cuisine, two countries with limited winemaking tradition, can proudly claim to have the best wine list globally.
Nine months on from this incredible achievement, HAOMA’s Food and Beverage Director, Vishvas Sidana, is still pinching himself. “I didn’t expect to win the Grand Prix, although I did expect to be nominated, especially after completely revamping the wine program for the latest edition,” he says.
Vishvas speaks with an understandable mixture of modesty and pride. He had been meticulously crafting the wine menu for seven years (eight, now), with the clear goal of harmoniously complementing the culinary creations of chef Deepanker Khosla. While this approach may seem cautious, it was ambitious to compete with restaurants like 11 Madison Park, Geranium and Alchemist, which boast over 1,200 labels, while HAOMA offers a more concise selection of just 200. But these couple of hundred references have the merit of having been chosen meticulously.
“Years ago, the world of wine seemed snobbish and undemocratic. I could be working in a winery with 4,000 bottles around me, of which only a small minority I could afford. So I decided to look for my own truth, and I found it: for me, the most important thing about a wine is the winemaker,” says Vishvas.
His approach is all about embracing a more humanist vision, steering clear of the elitism often found in the wine world. At HAOMA, you won’t find luxury labels that, personally, mean little to Vishvas. Instead, he’s on a mission to make wine accessible to all, offering top-notch quality without breaking the bank. He celebrates the incredible dedication of wine producers who strive to create exceptional wines that are more than just a drink – they’re a reflection of the land, the ecosystems, and the nature that nurtures them, and while some might assume that Vishvas favors natural or low-intervention wines, he sees things differently.
He believes in a more open approach, not limiting his guests with boxes. “I don’t like to put things in boxes. To me, the best natural wine in the world is Domaine de la Romanée-Conti, a producer that doesn’t consider itself to be making natural wine. So I will not define their style through labeling my menu”. After a brief silence, he adds, ‘For me, labels limit us and prevent us from developing curiosity and our own criteria.’
For this sommelier, far from any kind of dogmatism, the most important thing in wine — apart from the producer — is how the grapes are grown. He is well aware of the disappointments that certain certifications can lead to and also that the simple fact of working in a certain way, by itself, means nothing.
“I’m into grape farming. There are so many talented individuals out there who lack the financial resources for certifications, yet they farm with such passion and skill, producing exceptional wine. A perfect example of this is Bénédicte and Stéphane Tissot in Jura, who are Demeter certified for biodynamic agriculture. But then you have individuals like François Rousset Martin or Lucien Aviet, who, without any certification, are truly making a mark”.
This passion-driven approach to wine, where you can actually connect with the people behind the bottle, and forget about promising labels, feels like the real deal.
In the world of wine, sustainability is a hot topic, as most of the industry’s carbon footprint is from transporting the bottles. But with its Green Star and chef Khosla at the helm, HAOMA is a beacon of gastronomic sustainability, and Vishvas focus on what is at his hands, like offering the same wines by the glass and for pairings, to avoid waste, using preservation systems such as Coravin, exchanging bottles for recycling in exchange for basic products in a local shop, and using 100% recycled materials to produce his wine list, among others.
When it comes to pairing, Vishvas’s approach is as eclectic and irreverent, for a classic pairing. He’s not one to follow the rules, and he might start with an IPA and finish with a sweet wine, or combine fish with sake and then introduce an Oloroso sherry with a seafood dish. This approach is a smashing success with his Thai-diners, who love the way the sherry’s aromas remind them of whisky and cognac – two drinks that are widely accepted in that country.
He’s not afraid to break the mold, and he’s in the perfect place to do it. As Vishvas says, “For an Indian restaurant to be pushing in the wine world could be a little too much, but that’s where the push needs to come from, from an Indian restaurant located in Bangkok.” He admits the unexpected nature of his gamble and the opportunity it gives him that no one in the world of wine was watching him when he started.
On June 16th, the Star Wine List International Final will be held in Vienna, and the competition is fierce. While many could agree that HAOMA has the best wine menu in the world, the crown will most likely pass to another restaurant as it use to happen in all culinary competitions and lists.
After a year of reign, how does Vishvas feel? What has meant to him being on top of the game for the whole 2024? “It restores my faith in small and focused beverage programs and that a simple wine list with a core focus on the people behind the juice, with less than 200 labels, is able to compete with selections over 1000 labels, tells me that we are going for a big change in the way beverage programs are progressing forward,” says the sommelier.
He’s right. World-class restaurants now include great small producers. Sommeliers are always updating their wine menus. Iconic cellars will always exist, but it’s refreshing to find that organic, small-plot juice from an almost extinct grape variety you’ve never heard of. There are still wines to discover, and a revolution of the small is still to be done.
HAOMA
231, 3 Soi Sukhumvit 31, Khlong Toei Nuea, Watthana, Bangkok 10110, Thailand
www.haoma.dk
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