Hove restaurant etch. wins the AA Wine Award for England, and overall

etch., Steven Edwards’s restaurant on Church Road in Hove, has won the AA Wine Award for England at the AA Hospitality Awards 2026. It also took the overall title.

The awards were held at Grosvenor House in London on 21 September. The wine award for Wales went to The Jackdaw in Conwy, and the one for Scotland to Knockinaam Lodge in Portpatrick.

The list is run by Sam Weatherill, etch.’s wine director. It has won a national prize before: in 2024 Star Wine List and The Buyer named it the best medium-sized wine list in the UK.

“We’ve been developing the wine list over the last five or six years, pushing it slowly, trying to work on it every week as best as we can,” he said at the time. “And it’s nice for us to show that there are places outside the big city where you can still drink great wines and have a great meal.”

One of that year’s judges, Piotr Petras, said the list focused “largely on smaller, independent producers from around the world” and highlighted “the diversity of English sparkling wines”. The Michelin Guide⁴ notes a good selection from Sussex.

Edwards won MasterChef: The Professionals in 2013 and opened etch. in a former bank in 2017. Diners choose a tasting menu of five, seven or nine courses. The menus change with the seasons and often week to week, and there is a wine pairing to go with them. Cocktails are served downstairs in the Ink Bar, named after the tattoo parlour that once occupied the building.

In April, Edwards was also appointed executive chef at Nyetimber Estate, the West Sussex vineyard. All of this year’s AA restaurant award winners will appear in the AA Restaurant Guide 2027.