Where to drink Champagne in Estonia?
Estonia is not a traditional wine country, and that’s exactly what makes its wine scene interesting. Instead of vineyards stretching across warm hillsides, Estonian producers have built a local wine culture around berries, apples, herbs and even forest ingredients. Champagne has its place too, particularly in Tallinn’s restaurants, wine bars and hotels, but there’s plenty of local experimentation worth discovering alongside it.
If you’re looking for Champagne in Estonia, Tallinn is the obvious starting point. The capital has a growing wine-bar scene, with places offering Champagne alongside wines from small European producers and more unusual bottles. Some wine bars also make it easy to taste several wines by the glass rather than committing to a full bottle.
But Estonia’s wine story becomes much more interesting once you leave Tallinn. Small producers around the country make wines from blackcurrants, apples, rhubarb, rowan, chokeberries and other local ingredients. There are also vineyards producing wines from grapes that can cope with Estonia’s northern climate.
And if you like bubbles, keep an eye out for Estonian sparkling wines. Allikukivi Winery, for example, makes sparkling wine from green currants, while KODAS produces sparkling wines alongside its ciders. Estonia has also developed a particularly distinctive Nordic connection to sparkling drinks through birch sap bubbly.
Good to know
Estonian wine can taste very different from what you might expect when you hear the word “wine”. Berry and fruit wines are a major part of the local tradition, with blackcurrant being one of the most common ingredients. The country’s northern climate has encouraged producers to work with what grows well here rather than trying to copy classic European wine regions.
There is also a small but growing Nordic grape-growing scene. On Muhu, Luscher & Matiesen runs one of the world’s northernmost wineries, with its own vineyard and wines shaped by the island’s maritime climate.
If you’re travelling around Estonia with wine in mind, the Estonian Wine Trail is worth knowing about. It connects small wineries and wine experiences around the country and is a good way to discover a side of Estonia that most visitors never see.