Dublin is, unambiguously, a Guinness city. A whiskey city. A city where the pub is the social infrastructure and the pint is the default. None of that is a cliché — it’s just true, and it’s a big part of why Dublin is worth visiting. But it has made people miss something that’s been quietly growing alongside all of that: a genuinely serious wine bar scene and a fine dining restaurant that belongs in any conversation about the best in Europe.
There’s also the small matter of Irish seafood. Oysters from Carlingford Lough. Wild Atlantic salmon. Fresh shellfish from the west coast. Few places in the world give you a better argument for Champagne than a plate of cold oysters with the Irish Sea nearby.
All the spots we’ve found are in our Dublin Champagne City Guide, updated as we discover new places.
Explore our complete Dublin City Guide
Table of contents
- The wine bars that built Dublin’s credibility
- Champagne and Irish seafood: a natural pairing
- Chapter One, the Westbury and the fine dining end
- Frequently asked questions
- Explore the Dublin City Guide
The wine bars that built Dublin’s credibility
La Cave is the one to know first. It’s been pouring wine underground on South Anne Street since the 1980s — a candlelit, vaulted room that feels completely unlike anything else in Dublin and hasn’t needed to change much. The Champagne list here is well-chosen and the atmosphere earns it. ELY Wine Bar has a longer history with organic and biodynamic wines, and Champagne sits naturally within that ethos.
The newer wave is equally strong. Piglet is a natural wine bar near Temple Bar with a list that takes Champagne seriously without being precious about it — the kind of spot where you order by the glass and end up staying longer than planned. Loose Canon is something slightly different: a cheese and wine shop that doubles as a bar, where Irish farmhouse cheese and a glass of Champagne make a combination that’s hard to improve on. Amy Austin, Bar Pez and Note all add their own character to a scene that has quietly become one of Ireland’s most interesting.
What’s striking is how independent it all is. These aren’t hotel bars or chain wine bars — they’re places built by people who care, and it shows in the selection.
Champagne and Irish seafood: a natural pairing
Ireland doesn’t get enough credit as a seafood country. It should. The wild Atlantic coast produces exceptional oysters — Carlingford, Galway, Donegal — alongside salmon, crab, mussels and scallops that are some of the best in Europe. Cold, clean water makes a difference, and it shows on the plate.
Champagne is the obvious pairing — the acidity cuts through the brine and richness of fresh shellfish in a way that very few other drinks can manage. ELY Wine Bar does this particularly well, with an approach to wine and food that takes both seriously. Monty’s of Kathmandu takes a different angle entirely: Nepalese food with Champagne sounds unexpected, but the bright spicing and careful cooking create their own kind of pairing territory worth exploring.
If you have an extra day, Howth is worth the DART ride. The harbour has seafood restaurants right on the water, and arriving with a bottle of Champagne in mind is not a bad plan for an afternoon.
Chapter One, the Westbury and the fine dining end
Chapter One by Mickael Viljanen is the headline. Set in the basement of the Dublin Writers Museum on Parnell Square, it holds a Michelin star and has earned a reputation as one of the best restaurants in Ireland — and by extension, one of the best in Europe. The Finnish chef brings a precision and lightness to Irish ingredients that makes the wine programme — including Champagne — a serious proposition. This isn’t a restaurant where the wine list is an afterthought. Book in advance.
WILDE Restaurant at The Westbury operates at a different register — a luxury hotel restaurant on Grafton Street with the kind of room and service that suits a bottle of Champagne and a long lunch. It’s more reliably bookable than Chapter One and delivers a genuinely good experience in one of the city’s most elegant settings. Between these two and the wine bar scene, Dublin covers more Champagne territory than most first-time visitors expect.
Frequently asked questions
Our Dublin City Guide maps the city’s best Champagne venues — underground wine bars, natural wine spots, hotel restaurants and Michelin-starred dining. Use the map to find what’s near wherever you’re spending your time.
More than you’d expect. The pub culture is the city’s most visible face, but Dublin has built a serious independent wine bar scene alongside it — and Chapter One is a world-class restaurant by any measure. Add Irish seafood as a natural Champagne pairing and you have a city that rewards a Champagne hunter more than its reputation suggests.
Oysters are the obvious answer — Irish oysters from Carlingford or Galway with a glass of Champagne is a combination hard to beat anywhere. Beyond that, smoked salmon, scallops and Irish farmhouse cheeses (Loose Canon is the right place for this) all pair beautifully. Dublin’s restaurant scene has moved well beyond traditional pub food, so the pairing options are broader than you might expect.
Explore the Dublin City Guide
Our Dublin City Guide brings together the best Champagne venues in the city — wine bars, fine dining restaurants and hotel spots — all on the map.
You can also browse the Champagne Hunters Map to discover Champagne venues around the world.
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