The Michelin Guide launches “Michelin Grapes” – A new global benchmark for wine excellence

A new chapter in wine recognition

The Michelin Guide, globally synonymous with excellence in gastronomy and hospitality, is extending its expertise into the world of wine with the launch of Michelin Grapes. Announced in late 2025, this initiative marks a historic first in Michelin’s more than 125-year history: wine estates and producers will be evaluated and ranked on a global scale.

Although Michelin has long recognized wine excellence through restaurant wine lists and sommelier awards, Michelin Grapes takes this recognition further by focusing directly on the creators of wine – the estates themselves.

According to Michelin’s International Director, Gwendal Poullennec, the new distinction is aimed at both curious wine lovers and seasoned connoisseurs, highlighting the passion, heritage and innovation behind the world’s great wine estates.

How Michelin Grapes Works

Michelin Grapes will classify wine estates using a clear and universal framework, applied consistently across regions. Producers may receive:

Three Michelin Grapes – Exceptional estates whose wines can be trusted across vintages

Two Michelin Grapes – Excellent producers recognized for quality and consistency

One Michelin Grape – Very good producers crafting wines of character, especially in favorable years

Selected – Recommended estates notable for quality and worthy of continued attention

The evaluation goes beyond tasting alone and considers five key criteria essential to world-class winemaking:

Quality of agronomy – vineyard health and management
Technical mastery – precision in the winemaking process
Identity – authentic expression of terroir and personality
Balance – harmony among a wine’s structural elements
Consistency – sustained quality over time

All assessments will be conducted by a dedicated team of Michelin-trained wine inspectors, ensuring independence and rigor.

Launch in iconic French wine regions

The first Michelin Grapes selections will be published in 2026, beginning with two of the world’s most iconic wine regions: Burgundy and Bordeaux. These regions were chosen for their historical significance and stylistic diversity, offering a compelling starting point for this global initiative.

What Michelin Grapes means for the wine world

The announcement of Michelin Grapes, the new global distinction dedicated to wine estates and producers, raises a natural question within the wine world: why is Michelin creating a new wine evaluation system when it already owns one of the most influential wine criticism publications in the world – Robert Parker Wine Advocate?

The answer does not point to a contradiction, but rather to a strategic complementarity. Michelin Grapes and Wine Advocate do not compete with each other; instead, they address different needs of consumers and producers, reflecting the way global wine culture is evolving.

While Robert Parker Wine Advocate focuses on evaluating individual wines through a numerical scoring system that analyzes style, structure and vintage performance, Michelin Grapes shifts the perspective, placing the emphasis on the producer, identity and long-term consistency.

If Wine Advocate answers the question “How good is this wine?”, Michelin Grapes answers “How reliable and valuable is this producer?”.

This approach mirrors the philosophy that made Michelin Stars such a powerful reference in gastronomy: a clear, intuitive system that builds consumer trust and offers producers long-term recognition. Michelin Grapes does not replace traditional wine criticism; it introduces a global benchmark, designed for both wine enthusiasts and a broader audience interested in terroir, wine tourism and authenticity.

With this new distinction, the Michelin Guide adds an authoritative reference to a landscape long dominated by numerical scores. Together with Robert Parker Wine Advocate, Michelin Grapes helps broaden the language of wine evaluation, offering consumers both detailed bottle-level analysis and long-term confidence in producers.

For wineries, earning Michelin Grapes may become a symbol of sustained excellence, influencing reputation, wine tourism and international positioning.

For wine lovers in Romania – a market with a growing interest in quality wines and authentic experiences – Michelin Grapes offers a new lens through which to explore global wine estates. At the same time, for Romanian producers, this new global benchmark may open real opportunities for international recognition, based on identity, consistency and long-term quality.