By Mukul Manku
For more than a century, the Michelin Guide has been helping people discover exceptional restaurants around the world through its famous Michelin Stars. More recently, Michelin also introduced the Michelin Keys to recognise outstanding hotels. Over the years, Michelin has also celebrated excellence in wine by recognising outstanding wine lists and sommeliers.
Now, Michelin has taken its next step—bringing its prestigious guide to wine estates.
On 7 July 2026, at the historic Palace of the Dukes of Burgundy in Dijon, the capital of Burgundy, France, Michelin unveiled its first-ever MICHELIN Grape Selection, introducing a new distinction for wine estates.
The official symbol of the new MICHELIN Grape distinction. Image – The Michelin Guide
Just as Michelin uses Stars for restaurants and Keys for hotels, it has chosen Grapes as the symbol for wine estates. The number of Grapes reflects the level of distinction, giving wine estates their own unique identity while keeping the Michelin system familiar and easy to understand.
What I found particularly interesting is that Michelin is not judging a single bottle of wine or a particular vintage. Instead, it is recognising the wine estate as a whole. The focus is on everything that makes a great producer – the quality of its vineyards, vineyard management, winemaking philosophy, consistency over many years, and the overall visitor experience. In other words, it is the estate’s long-term commitment to excellence that is being honoured, rather than just one outstanding wine.
”…excellence is not defined solely by the prestige of a name. It is expressed above all through the precision of the work carried out both in the vineyard and in the cellar.”
— Gwendal Poullennec
International Director, MICHELIN Guide
It is no surprise that Michelin chose Burgundy for its first edition. Burgundy is one of the world’s most respected wine regions and is famous for the concept of terroir – the idea that a wine’s character is shaped by its soil, climate and vineyard location. It is a region where even neighbouring vineyards can produce wines with remarkably different personalities.
Out of nearly 3500 wine estates in Burgundy, only 94 were selected for inclusion in this inaugural guide. Of these, just nine estates received the highest honour of Three Michelin Grapes, while 20 received Two Grapes and 33 received One Grape. Another 32 estates were listed as “Selected” producers. These numbers alone show just how selective Michelin intends this guide to be.
For wine lovers and travellers, this could become an important new reference. Millions of people already rely on Michelin when choosing restaurants and hotels. Now, the same trusted name may also help wine enthusiasts discover outstanding wine estates that are worth visiting.
Whether Michelin Grapes become as influential in the wine world as Michelin Stars are in the culinary world is something only time will tell. But one thing is certain – this marks an important new chapter for both Michelin and the global wine industry. It is also likely to encourage more wine tourism, as travellers increasingly seek out estates that have earned this prestigious recognition.
It will be interesting to see which wine region Michelin chooses next. My guess is that Bordeaux may not have to wait too long.
What is most remarkable about this new approach is that Michelin is recognising the wine estate rather than just a single wine. Great wines begin in the vineyard, but they are the result of years of hard work, vision and commitment from the people behind the estate. Michelin’s latest recognition celebrates exactly that.
Update
I had published this post about a week back and now the story has already taken an interesting turn. Within days of the inaugural Michelin Grape awards, Domaine Arnoux-Lachaux of Vosne-Romanée requested that Michelin remove its One Grape distinction, stating that it has not submitted its wines for reviews or ratings since the 2020 vintage and therefore questioned how the assessment had been made.
While the Michelin Grape initiative remains an exciting new benchmark for wine estates, this development shows that any new classification of such stature will naturally invite closer examination and differing perspectives within the wine community. It will be interesting to see how the guide evolves in the years ahead.
Author’s Note
The update as posted above is an important development. What happens next, how would the wine industry view this, whether there shall be more such cases etc, are some questions that would find answers in due course of time. The view of the Michelin Group on this issue shall also be awaited by various stakeholders and wine enthusiasts.
On my part, I shall keenly follow these developments and post an update again if it’s merited.
Cheers !!
