Mendoza Wineries Just Won More Michelin Stars in 2026
Two more winery restaurants in Mendoza earned Michelin stars this July: La VidA, at Susana Balbo Winemaker's House & Spa Suites, and Cal, at Sitio La Estocada. That brings Mendoza to 9 of Argentina's 14 total Michelin stars — and it lands the same year Mendoza ranked among the world's top 10 travel destinations for 2026.
Mendoza city restaurant Centauro picked up its first star in the same round, and Cal added a Michelin Green Star for its sustainability practices and use of local, seasonal producers. Two individual awards went to Mendoza as well: 28-year-old chef Enzo González Petra of Cal won the Michelin Young Chef Award for Argentina 2026, and sommelier Camila Torta of Azafrán, in Mendoza city, took the Sommelier Award.
For visitors, this matters beyond bragging rights. Winery restaurants have become a core part of why people plan a trip to Mendoza in the first place — pairing a cellar visit with a serious tasting menu is now table stakes for the region's best wineries, not a rare bonus. Several of the newly starred and previously starred restaurants require booking weeks ahead, same as the wineries themselves.
If you're building a trip around this — wine, food, and enough time to actually enjoy both — our Mendoza wineries guide covers which estates to prioritize, and the Buenos Aires to Mendoza guide covers getting there.
Worth watching: whether other wine regions further south, like the ones we covered in our recent piece on San Rafael's boutique wineries, start pulling in similar recognition as Mendoza's food scene keeps climbing.