September 18, 2026 (Mendoza, Argentina) — Argentina’s first female winemaker and celebrated “Queen of Torrontés,” Susana Balbo, alongside her daughter, Ana Lovaglio, mark a new milestone in their evolution into luxury hospitality with three honors in the 2026 MICHELIN Guide. La VidA, the signature restaurant at SB Winemaker’s House & Spa Suites, earned its first MICHELIN Star, while Osadía de Crear at Susana Balbo Winery retained its MICHELIN Green Star and MICHELIN Recommended distinction. Founded by Ana Lovaglio and led by Executive Chef Flavia Amad, the restaurants offer distinct expressions of contemporary Mendocinian dining, while both naturally pair seasonal Argentine ingredients, refined technique and the region’s most celebrated wines with experiences ranging from a winemaking-inspired tasting menu to sustainability-driven cuisine rooted in the estate’s gardens and local producers. The recognitions underscore the evolution of Susana’s four-decade legacy in wine into a broader vision for gastronomy and luxury hospitality, alongside Ana, whose vision has shaped the family’s restaurants, guest experiences, and growing hospitality portfolio.
La VidA Restaurant, Where Winemaking Inspires the Menu
Opened in 2022, La VidA at SB Winemaker’s House takes its name from a play on the Spanish words vida—life—and vid—vine, reflecting the restaurant’s connection to wine and the vine as a symbol of growth. The seven-course “Winemaker Driven” tasting menu builds on that relationship between life, land and wine in the art-filled, contemporary restaurant, framed by the property’s intimate gardens. The menu translates the winemaking process, theming each course around the Terroir, Harvest, Fermentation, Extraction, Aging, Blend and Expression phases of wine production. New seasonal menu highlights include beetroot with goat, corn, kabocha squash with fennel and hazelnuts, and duck with shio koji and topinambur, before concluding with a cheese and artisanal sweets guéridon and petits fours. The restaurant also offers several pairing experiences, including one built around wines from Susana Balbo’s personal library, with historical vintages no longer commercially available. When selected, that pairing is served at La VidA’s private Chef’s Table adjacent to the kitchen, where the chef introduces the courses throughout dinner. Beyond La VidA’s tasting menu, the Winemaker’s House boutique hotel offers breakfast and lunch a la carte, High Tea, Argentine grilling and cooking experiences, monthly brunches and “La Cava de La VidA”, a monthly tasting series focused on special selections from the world of wine.
Osadía de Crear: Sustainable Fine Dining at Susana Balbo Winery
At Osadía de Crear, located within the Susana Balbo winery nearby, the experience takes a more relaxed approach framed by lush gardens, vineyards, and breathtaking, unobstructed views of the Andes Mountains. This natural setting sets the stage for a relaxed, immersive experience connected to the landscape and the natural rhythm of the land. The restaurant serves a seasonal four-course menu that changes every four months. New seasonal menu highlights here include freshly baked flatbread with koji butter, goat cheese with seasonal preserves, garden-grown produce, zucchini tempura with yogurt, sweetbreads with rösti potato, beef with aged rice and tomato, and ricotta-filled pasta with asparagus, before ending with desserts and a tableside trolley of seven petits fours. Its MICHELIN Green Star reflects sustainability practices woven into daily operations, from sourcing directly from the restaurant’s expanded garden and working with local producers to composting organic waste, treating greywater for irrigation, and incorporating recycling and upcycling initiatives throughout the winery. Visitors can also experience Crios, a seasonal outdoor concept centered around Argentine open-fire cooking and vineyard picnics overlooking the Andes Mountains.
Mendoza-born Executive Chef Amad’s cuisine translates the region through seasonal produce, wine, fermentation, and contemporary technique. Trained in Argentina and at Le Cordon Bleu in Miami, Amad went on to work in New York Minetta Tavern among other restaurants before returning to Mendoza, drawing on her Italian and Arab heritage to shape a style rooted in place but international in execution. La VidA’s 2026 MICHELIN Star is the first awarded to a restaurant under Amad’s leadership as Executive Chef, adding to her MICHELIN recognition at Osadía de Crear. Earlier in her career, she was part of the Minetta Tavern team when that restaurant earned its first MICHELIN Star.
With a career of over 40 years, Susana Balbo is the most renowned female winemaker of Argentina. Her cutting-edge character and essence have earned her many national and international awards and accolades, from The Drinks Business’ “Woman of the Year” and “Winemaking Legend” by the world-respected Master of Wine Tim Atkin to, most recently, the first Latin American woman to be inducted into the Decanter Hall of Fame.
Today, Susana Balbo winery produces its Nosotros, Susana Balbo Signature, Benmarco and Crios collections and remains led by the Susana Balbo family, with Susana’s vision carried forward by her son José Lovaglio Balbo, a third-generation winemaker and Director of Winemaking, and Ana Lovaglio Balbo, the winery’s Marketing and Hospitality Director. The winery has played a defining role in Argentina’s “White Wine Revolution,” producing an unusually high proportion of white and rosé wines and championing a distinctive approach to these styles, while José brings a blend of family tradition, international experience, technical precision and deep respect for Argentina’s diverse terroirs to the wines. Sustainability is equally central to the winery’s identity, approached holistically across environmental, social and economic impact, while its wine, gastronomy and hospitality experiences are designed to connect guests with both the landscape and the family’s philosophy.
Susana Balbo’s MICHELIN-celebrated restaurants form part of a larger family-led hospitality and wine story created in partnership with Ana, who is the driving force behind the family’s evolution into gastronomy and luxury hospitality. In 2022, they opened a luxury boutique hotel, Susana Balbo Winemaker’s House & Spa Suites. The historic residence has just seven suites, each designed as a private wellness retreat, while wine tastings, culinary programming and personalized experiences connect guests directly to the family’s work in Mendoza. The property is a member of Relais & Châteaux and Virtuoso and has received Two MICHELIN Keys. Susana Balbo Unique Stays is also currently developing Susana Balbo Mountain Lodge Villas & Spa, a new mountain retreat set within a 91-acre vineyard estate in San Pablo, one of the most prestigious high-altitude wine regions of Argentina’s Valle de Uco.
Together, the two restaurants and seven-suite Winemaker’s House offer travelers a singular entry point into the Susana Balbo family’s evolving vision for wine, gastronomy and luxury hospitality in Mendoza. For reservations at La VidA, guests may book directly via WhatsApp at +54 9 261 570 7097; reservations for Osadía de Crear are available online at wosbooking.com/mro/susana-balbo, via turismo@sbwines.com.ar, or WhatsApp at +54 9 261 662 6754. For stays at Susana Balbo Winemaker’s House & Spa Suites and additional information on Susana Balbo Unique Stays, visit susanabalbohotels.com.
About SB Winemaker’s House & Spa Suites
Argentina’s renowned female winemaker, Susana Balbo, has opened her first hotel, SB Winemaker’s House & Spa Suites, in the famed wine region of Mendoza. After four decades dedicated to the wine industry and international recognitions, Susana Balbo created the bespoke estate and luxury boutique hotel with her daughter, Ana Lovaglio Balbo. The newest luxury hotel in Mendoza features a sense of place as well as the hostesses’ authentic wine roots in everything from design, décor, and setting to culinary experiences, art, wellness, and nature. It’s also about exclusivity. Guests will feel as if they’re staying in a private estate, where Susana and Ana become hosts for travelers who want to experience their culture and wines. Seven spa suites feature fully integrated in-room spa features and services, including a steam room, sensations shower, and massage table. Four of the seven suites are also equipped with a dry sauna. La VidA restaurant features Argentinian cuisine that exudes bold flavors with high quality ingredients, Chef’s Table with open-flame cooking, and signature wine cocktails. Inspired by Susana Balbo’s long history with wine, art in the form of sculptures, woodwork, and mixed media can be found from twenty local artists around the property and in the rooms. A lounge bar, wine cellar with top Argentine and global wines, heated swimming pool, shop with local artisanal products, and tasting room complete the SB Winemaker’s House & Spa Suites. With the help of the Experience Curator, guests have an opportunity to explore the region near and far. Guests can also take advantage of all the additional wine and food experiences at the nearby Susana Balbo bodega. For more information, visit: https://www.susanabalbohotels.com/sb-winemakers-house-spa-suites-en/.
