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Forget the usual winery tasting with a perfunctory cheese board.
Some vineyards are now serving up destination-worthy dining too, pairing seriously good food with equally impressive wines and views.
Wine Enthusiast magazine has rounded up its favourite winery restaurants around the world, from laid-back vineyard lunches to ambitious tasting menus worth planning an entire trip around.
The publication’s list is made up of 57 wineries globally, and 22 are in Europe – with six in Italy alone – meaning a significant chunk of the best spots are relatively close to home.
Italy
Italy is world famous for its wide variety of wines and excellent cuisine, so it’s unsurprising that it appears six times on this list.
Tuscany is arguably the most famous wine region in the country, and four of the six – Osteria di Brolio and Il Ristoro di Castello di Ama in Chianti and Ristorante Campo del Drago in Montalcino and Indigeno in Montepulciano – are located there.
However, look in less well known areas and you’ll still find vineyards with food on a par with their beverage offerings.
La Veduta is located above the hills of Irpinia in the Campania region in the country’s southwest. It serves up handmade pasta and produce from the local countryside, best enjoyed with wines made from Fiano, Greco, and Aglianico grapes.
Near Verona, you’ll find Locanda Costasera, a winery restaurant which has a ‘wine first’ philosophy – meaning that food is paired with wines, rather than the typical other way around.
The rustic spot is the perfect place to try a Corvina-Merlot wine blend served with flavoursome tubetti pasta.
Portugal
Portugal’s Alentejo region is a trending destination right now – and that extends to its vineyards.
The vineyard attached to Malhadinha Nova restaurant serves modern wines and that’s reflected in the eatery’s menu alongside traditional Alentejo cuisine. Many dishes use ingredients grown and raised on the property, including black Iberian pigs.
Over in the Douro region, restaurant Bomfim 1896 is well and truly inspired by local food. Set on the riverside in Pinhão, open kitchens serve everything from smoked eel to slow-roasted baby goat.
At Mesa de Lemos in Dão, things are very modern indeed, from the building’s floor-to-ceiling glass to the menu.
Chef Diogo Rocha ensures that each plate served is focused on one single ingredient, including pandora fish from the Algarve and pineapple from the Azores.
France
France is famous for its wines of all varieties and colours as well as its eats.
Chez Jeannette in Provence has a menu with dishes which are inventive but not pretentious, like amberjack with white asparagus and acacia flower vinegar. Dishes use ingredients from the wine estate’s organic garden as well as nearby farms, ensuring the freshest foods.
In the Bordeaux region, La Grand’Vigne is one of the fancier restaurants on this list.
The restaurant boasts two Michelin stars and is renowned for its elegant French cooking and long, complex tasting menus.
England
The south of England is currently going through something of a golden age of vineyards, thanks to warmer weather and similar growing conditions to more traditional vineyard locations on mainland Europe.
Chalk at the Wiston Estate in West Sussex has capitalised on the popularity of the vineyard’s sparkling wines and leaned into English cooking. Expect dishes ranging from mackerel with horseradish and elderflower to Devonshire brill accompanied with samphire.
Hambledon in Hampshire is considered England’s oldest commercial vineyard, and its restaurant is well worth a visit.
The menu is seasonable and, while staples like guinea fowl and chalk stream trout may remain on the menu for the whole year, they’ll be served with asparagus, peas, broccoli sprouts and wild garlic in the spring and summer, and with pickled onion and chestnuts in the autumn.
Spain
While Spain is famous for its many wine varieties, its two vineyard restaurants on this list are located in Ribera del Duero in the north.
Refectorio, a Michelin-starred restaurant, pairs Ribera del Duero region wines with tasting menus.
Set in a former 12th-century abbey dining hall, the menu draws on eats from the past, serving up dishes including pickled partridge and alboronía aubergine stew.
Also boasting a Michelin star is Ambivium at Pago de Carraovejas. Each course in each tasting menu is paired with a specific wine from the vineyard’s cellar, and diners can enjoy their feast overlooking the picturesque vines beyond.
Other winery restaurants to visit in Europe
Beyond the better-known wine destinations of Italy, France and Portugal, Wine Enthusiast’s list also includes a handful of less obvious European picks.
Austria, Germany, Greece and Hungary each have one winery restaurant on the list, offering plenty of reasons to look beyond the continent’s more established wine regions.
There’s also an entry from Liechtenstein, the tiny Alpine country better known for its mountains than its wine, while Moldova makes an appearance too.
Georgia also features, and it actually has one of the world’s oldest winemaking traditions and is increasingly gaining attention from travellers interested in wine.
The list’s selections reveal that Europe’s wine map extends well beyond its most famous names and the fact that there’s only one restaurant from each of these countries in the ranking means they might be tempting for travellers who prefer their wine trips with a bit of discovery involved.
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