Dining is a highlight of any trip to wine country, but these spectacular vineyard restaurants — from Argentina to Austria — are worth planning a whole vacation around. From sprawling terraces that place you at the foot of some of the world’s most prestigious vines to design-savvy transformations of ancient abbeys and vaulted brick cellars, these spots ensure that the scenery is every bit as spectacular as the wine you’ll be sipping. From the rolling vines of Ribera del Duero, Spain, to château-studded Bordeaux, here are some of the most experiential dining moments in MICHELIN Guide-approved hotels and restaurants around the globe.
1. For Ingenious Spins on Indigenous Ingredients: Angélica Cocina Maestra in Mendoza, Argentina
Nicolás Catena Zapata has been “credited with putting Argentinean wines on the world map,” as legendary wine critic Jancis Robinson put it, and this One Star restaurant at the Mendoza winery pays homage to the third-generation vintner’s mother. Angélica Cocina Maestra exudes Old World charm with its pale stone walls and vaulted brick-clad ceilings, yet the food here is anything but.
Josefina Diana and Juan Manuel Feijoo, the dynamic duo of chefs behind the kitchen’s wine-first concept, allow the cuvées to guide the cuisine, which revolves around the organic garden’s unmodified native seeds and ingredients like Andean potatoes. Sip vermouth in the distillery room and tour the winery before taking a seat in one of the regal, studded wooden chairs and making your way through a menu of modernized takes on Mendoza’s wealth of flavors.
2. For Haute Farm-to-Table Cuisine: Zonda Cocina de Paisaje in Mendoza, Argentina
Verdant vines frame the airy, sun-drenched dining room of Zonda Cocina de Paisaje, where tasting menus include a trip to the gardens and kitchen. Seasonal farm-to-table menus are designed to match the family-owned Lagarde Winery’s terroir-driven wines — which include its superb DOC Malbec — while sharing a taste of Andean culture.
At high tables in the century-old vineyards, take part in a seasonally focused cooking workshop. Craft a traditional recipe from the Cuyo region with ingredients plucked from the garden (alongside a glass of Lagarde wine, of course) before indulging in a tasting menu with elevated takes on Mendoza’s specialties, plus a classic Argentine asado, or barbecue.
3. For Garden-Fresh Fare: Sattlerhof in Gamlitz, Austria
At Sattlerhof in the Austrian wine region of Styria — known for its star grape, sauvignon blanc — explore the family-owned wine estate on e-biking tours and hiking trails through the beautifully manicured vines. Step into the vaulted cellar and taste wines evolving in the barrels before taking a seat at the daughter- and son-run gastronomic restaurant, where you can sample wines from the estate or take your pick of 650 labels from around the world. The Blossoms and Buds tasting menu revolves around what’s growing in the garden, so expect plenty of fresh herb- and flower-focused plates like white asparagus with dandelion and celery and quail with parsley root.
When you’re ready to call it a night, you don’t have to go far, since Sattlerhof has country-chic manor rooms perched above the vines.
4. For a Tucked-Away Garden Retreat: The Restaurant at JUSTIN in Paso Robles, California
Known for its Bordeaux-style bold reds, JUSTIN offers guests two ways to sip the California Central Coast wines: its tasting bar and dining room in downtown Paso Robles and the on-site The Restaurant at JUSTIN — the only winery in the country to earn a MICHELIN Star and MICHELIN Green Star for its hyperlocal cuisine, 95% of which is grown at the estate’s 26-acre farm or sourced from local farmers markets.
The dining room frames views of the vineyard-covered hills, with a shaded terrace spilling right out to the foot of the vines. For a deeper dive into the wines, book an estate tasting followed by an à la carte lunch and optional house-made chocolate flight.
5. For Gorgeous Rolling Vineyard Views: Cyrus in Sonoma County, California
Think of Cyrus as a moveable feast — one that starts with canapes and a Champagne and martini cart in the bubbles lounge, where you can stroll out into the gardens or simply sit back and soak up vineyard views. Then it’s off to the Kitchen Table to watch as the team preps chef Douglas Keane’s celebrated cuisine while sampling small bites like the Adult “Oreo,” a foie gras torchon with cassis.
For the multicourse meal itself, you’ll have sweeping floor-to-ceiling views of Alexander Valley’s cabernet sauvignon vines from the ultramodern, glass- and concrete-encased dining room that sits in the heart of the rolling vines.
6. For Quintessential French Fine Dining: La Grand’Vigne in Bordeaux, France
After sampling Grand Cru Classé Bordeaux at nearby Château Smith Haut Lafitte, take a seat under Les Sources de Caudalie’s gorgeous glass canopy, modeled after an 18th-century greenhouse, where La Grand’Vigne holds Two MICHELIN Stars.
Chef Nicolas Masse’s menu is a transporting journey through the Aquitaine terroir spotlighting ingredients as fresh and local as the hotel’s own organic garden, which you can eye from the expansive windows of the intimate, charcoal-colored dining room. Given its prime locale surrounded by Graves’ iconic vineyards, the wine list — heavy on Pessac-Léognan’s lauded producers — is as locally focused as the five- and seven-course menus.
7. For Art Afficionados: Chez Jeannette in Flassans-sur-Issole, France
Known for producing some of Provence’s top-quality rosé, La Commanderie de Peyrassol is as prized for its wine as its contemporary art — one of the largest open-air collections in Europe. More than 80 pieces by the likes of Daniel Buren, Bertrand Lavier, Jean-Pierre Raynaud and Richard Long are interspersed throughout the vineyards and Mediterranean plant-filled estate, where landscape designer Gaële Bazennerye has created a trail with unobstructed views of the artworks, placing them on natural pedestals.
From the terrace of Chez Jeannette at the foot of the old vines, you’ll have a bird’s-eye view of the sculpture park while dining on Provençal plates with farm-fresh produce from the organic garden.
8. For a Modern Take on Rustic Dishes: Sauska 48 in Villány, Hungary
From the terrace of Sauska 48 you’ll be surrounded by the second-generation winery’s vineyards in Villány, where you’ll recognize grapes like cabernet sauvignon and syrah and get introduced to native reds kadarka and kékfrankos (also known as blaufränkisch). The 48-seat bistro’s wine list focuses on reds and rosés from the surrounding vines, as well as whites from the family’s other winery in the renewed region of Tokaj, the birthplace of the sweet dessert wine dubbed the “wine of kings, king of wines.”
The area’s farms and orchards — as well as the winery’s current release — inspire Executive Chef Attila Bicsár’s menu of homestyle Hungarian cuisine, which ranges from cabbage pasta with butter sauce and nectarine salsa to quail breast with rhubarb and baked polenta.
9. For Italian Village Vibes: Borgo Sant’Anna in Monforte d’Alba, Italy
In a region known for some of Europe’s best food and wine, Borgo Sant’Anna stands apart from the rest thanks to a combination of Puglia-born Chef Pasquale Làera’s twist on Piedmont’s traditional cuisine and its stunning terrace, which is suspended like a stage over the nebbiolo vines. While the cellar is stocked with barrels of aging Barolo DOCG, the wine list is filled with 1,400 labels ready to sample — the majority of which are from around Italy.
Encircled by Langhe’s rolling green hills — deemed a UNESCO World Heritage site — the Borgo, intended to feel like a small Italian village, is just as striking during lunch when the vines are blanketed in sunshine as the evening, when you can stargaze from the modern dining room’s terrace windows.
10. For a Contemporary Twist on Italian: Radici in Costigliole d’Asti, Italy
Housed in a dimly lit, 19th-century brick vault, Radici is dripping in romance — and the intimate atmosphere continues on the terrace overlooking the vines. The wine list includes nearly 400 labels spanning a diverse mix of terroirs from small and lesser-known producers, as well as from the Mura Mura winery itself, where wines are crafted from some of Piedmont’s most iconic grapes.
Traditional dishes are reinvented with lively, spruced-up spins melding unexpected flavors, such as hearty potato gnocchi with porcini and chanterelle ragù, wild garlic, burnt wheat and mint.
11. For Rhine Valley Vineyard Views: Torkel in Vaduz, Liechtenstein
The petite principality of Liechtenstein’s wine may not be on your radar, but since the country is sandwiched between Austria and Switzerland, it’s no surprise it’s been dubbed one of the best wine-growing regions in the Rhine Valley. Located on a vineyard north of capital Vaduz, Torkel was once a winery itself before the medieval building used for vinification was converted into a restaurant.
The terrace acts as a natural extension, bringing the outside nature into the dining room, where the focal point is the carefully preserved old wine press, or torkel in the local dialect, which earned the spot its name.
12. For Contemporary Chic Cuisine: Damiana in Valle de Guadalupe, Mexico
Tucked away in Viñedos de la Reina in Valle de Guadalupe, Mexico’s main wine region, Damiana camouflages into the family-owned winery’s vineyards that blanket a hillside facing the sea. The industrial-chic building is divided into two parts: an upstairs tasting room where you can sample award-winning wines with views overlooking the valley and the restaurant below, which spills out onto a patio framed by romantic, light-strung trees.
Chef Esteban Lluis’ six-course menu pays tribute to the valley’s bounty of local ingredients with inventive spins that blend contemporary and traditional techniques.
13. For Spectacular Sunsets: Mesa de Lemos in Silgueiros, Portugal
Designed to blend into the granite landscape with the native rocks doubling as a restaurant wall, Mesa de Lemos’ industrial-chic dining room is drenched in shades of gold at sunset. The minimalist space places all the attention on the floor-to-ceiling vineyard views and Chef Diogo Rocha’s skillfully crafted cuisine, which centers on quality ingredients like John Dory fish from the Algarve, sea bream from Sesimbra and estate-grown produce and olive oil.
They’re paired with wines crafted from Quinta de Lemos’ indigenous Dão grape varietals, like satiny red tinta roriz and mineral-driven white encruzado.
14. For Dreamy Dining Under the Stars: Malhadinha Nova in Alentejo, Portugal
Herdade de Malhadinha Nova’s sprawling property spans a thousand acres sandwiched between Lisbon and the Algarve, in the region of Baixo Alentejo, which has shifted its reputation as a top producer of cork to a leader in premium Portuguese wines. Everything here revolves around artisans, from the handmade chairs and objets d’art in the vine-encased villas and suites, where plunge pools and soaking tubs overlook the vast Alentejo plains, to the gastronomy at Malhadinha Nova, where Chef Joachim Koerper pulls the best from the terroir, blending traditional touches with global influences.
The view from the olive tree-lined terrace is as dreamy as the handful of tables scattered throughout the restaurant, an old house sheathed in soaring glass windows framing the vines.
15. For Cutting-Edge Design: Ambivium in Peñafiel, Spain
When a restaurant has its own Pairing Laboratory, oenophiles know they’re in for a treat, especially in an area as rich in wine as Peñafiel, the capital of Spain’s tempranillo hub of Ribera del Duero. Ambivium, which sits in the heart of the Pago de Carraovejas winery — known for its two single-vineyard red wines — doesn’t limit its wine list to a sole terroir. Instead, the concept takes diners on a journey through wines from around the world with a cellar composed of nearly 4,000 labels.
Focusing on zero-kilometer cuisine, most of the menu is anchored around the estate’s own organic kitchen garden, including the honey-themed desserts, a nod to the bodega’s beehives, which our Inspectors found “especially impressive.” The light-drenched dining space is equally as captivating, especially when the sunset illuminates the Peñafiel castle.
16. For Gastronomy in a Grand Historic Setting: Refectorio in Sardón de Duero, Spain
Embraced by nearly 500 acres of vines in the center of Ribera del Duero, Three MICHELIN Key hotel Abadía Retuerta LeDomaine is located inside beautifully preserved buildings where a 12th-century abbey once stood. The monastery’s old hostelry now houses 30 rooms with balconies suspended over the vines — which you can tour via horseback or Jeep, pausing for cheese and a glass of the estate’s wine before ending at the old barrel room, or via hot air balloon, floating above the Castile countryside at sunrise.
At elevated Refectorio, the extensive wine list includes a standout selection from Castilla y León that pairs perfectly with the locally focused dishes spanning land and sea. Think sea cucumber with green beans and poultry juice or pickled partridge with black olives.
17. For Stellar By-the-Glass Wines: Alter Torkel – Huus vum Bündner Wii in Jenins, Switzerland
Alter Torkel draws a mix of hikers and bikers to its terrace tucked in the vines of Graubünden, nicknamed the “Burgundy of Switzerland” since more than 70% of the wines in the area are pinot noir. Owner Oliver Friedrich has curated the largest archive of the region’s wines, assembling a mix of young and beautifully aged vintages in the cellar, which stores more than 1,500 bottles and plays host to wine tastings.
The cuisine here revolves around what’s in your glass, so take your pick of 21 by-the-glass wines on rotation and Chef David Esser will find the perfect pairing to accompany it.
18. For an English Countryside Escape: Chalk in Pulborough, United Kingdom
British bubbles are having quite the moment, and you can sip a standout selection of Sussex’s sparkling wine straight from the source at Wiston Estate. The family-owned estate dates back to 1743, but its winemaking legacy began in 2006 when they planted a 16-acre site of Champagne’s signature grapes: pinot noir, pinot meunier and chardonnay.
Go off-roading on a mountain bike ride through the rolling vines before taking a seat at pared-back, farmhouse-inspired restaurant Chalk, where you can sip bubbly while dining on the seasonally shifting menu that starts off strong with a family-sized portion of house-made rosemary focaccia.
Hero image: Sattlerhof in Gamlitz, Austria, has country-chic manor rooms perched above the vines. © Sattlerhof
