RFK Rankings · Paris
Best Wine Lists in Paris 2026
Wine lists · Paris · 7 cellars ranked · Updated May 2026
Compiled by the Restaurants for Kings editorial team · Published February 18, 2026 · Updated May 19, 2026
Three hundred and twenty thousand bottles rest in the cellar under La Tour d'Argent, and no other restaurant in Paris comes close. A great wine list is more than a heavy binder, though: it is depth where it counts, allocations a walk-in will never see, a mark-up that does not punish curiosity, and a sommelier who can build a meal around a bottle rather than just fetch it. Paris splits its best by specialism, a Bordeaux dynasty here, a palace-hotel cellar there, a chef-owner's private stash in the seventh. These seven, ranked, are the rooms where the wine is as much the reason to book as the plate.
1.La Tour d'Argent
Paris's deepest cellar at 320,000 bottles, the pressed duck still the set-piece under Yannick Franques. Reserve it for a serious bottle.
La Tour d'Argent has looked over the Seine from the Quai de la Tournelle since 1582, and its cellar, some 320,000 bottles across roughly 14,000 references, is the reference point every other Paris list is measured against. Head sommelier Victor Gonzalez can pull Burgundy and Bordeaux verticals that no printed carte shows, and the room regained its Michelin star when it reopened in 2023 with Yannick Franques cooking. The numbered pressed duck, caneton Tour d'Argent, remains the dish to order. For a table built around one great bottle rather than the menu, start here, and tell the sommelier the region and budget when you book.
Book through the restaurant; brief Victor Gonzalez on the bottle ahead.
2.Le Taillevent
Star Wine List of the Year France 2025 and a 300,000-bottle cellar under Giuliano Sperandio. Book it for the cellar.
Le Taillevent, in a 19th-century mansion on rue Lamennais in the eighth, has kept two Michelin stars and one of the great French cellars since 1946, with vintages of Chateau Latour back to 1918 and dozens from Domaine de la Romanee-Conti. Its list was named Star Wine List of the Year France 2025 and took the Gold Star for Best Long List in 2026. Wine director Paul Robineau runs the floor; chef Giuliano Sperandio, in charge since 2021, cooks to match. For depth across France read by people who know it cold, this is the address. Ask Robineau to open the older Burgundy.
Book Le Taillevent; ask Paul Robineau for the older Burgundy.
3.Le Cinq
Eric Beaumard's 50,000-bottle cellar at the George V, Christian Le Squer cooking, three stars. Worth the splurge for grand French wine.
Le Cinq, the three-Michelin-star room at the Four Seasons George V in the eighth, is built on a 50,000-bottle cellar that director and sommelier Eric Beaumard rebuilt from about thirty bottles when the hotel reopened in 1999. It is one of the most complete lists in Paris, and Beaumard, voted the world's second-best sommelier in 1998, remains among the finest floor men in France. Christian Le Squer's cooking, the gratinated onion and the Breton langoustine among the signatures, gives the wine its match. For a grand French wine dinner with service to fit, it is the benchmark. Hand Beaumard the budget and let him choose.
Reserve Le Cinq; let Eric Beaumard pick the bottle.
4.Le Clarence
The Domaine Clarence Dillon cellar behind Chateau Haut-Brion, 1,500 references, two stars off the Champs-Elysees. Go for the Bordeaux.
Le Clarence sits in a Belle Epoque hotel particulier off the Champs-Elysees in the eighth, owned by Domaine Clarence Dillon, the company behind Chateau Haut-Brion and Chateau La Mission Haut-Brion. That pedigree shows in a cellar of more than 1,500 references from over 500 French growers, with Bordeaux you cannot drink anywhere else at this depth. The kitchen has been in transition since chef Christophe Pele left in 2025, but the two-star dining room and the wine are the reason to come. For First-Growth Bordeaux poured by a team that lives it, no Paris list is better placed. Tell the sommelier you want to drink Bordeaux.
Book Le Clarence; ask the sommelier for the Haut-Brion stablemates.
5.Epicure
Le Bristol's three-star cellar under Arnaud Faye, Norman scallops with caviar the new signature. Pencil it in for a cellar dinner.
Epicure, the three-Michelin-star room at Le Bristol on the Faubourg Saint-Honore, pairs one of the deepest hotel cellars in Paris with a kitchen now led by Arnaud Faye, a Meilleur Ouvrier de France who succeeded Eric Frechon in 2024 after his quarter-century there. The sommelier team works a list long on Burgundy and Bordeaux and built for grand bottles. Faye's Norman scallops with watercress gnocchi and caviar, and his pigeon in black cardamom jus, are the dishes to build a wine night around. For a classic palace-hotel cellar dinner, it belongs here. Book the garden-facing room and brief the sommelier early.
Reserve Epicure; ask the sommelier for the mature Burgundy.
6.David Toutain
A chef-owner's private cellar in the seventh, sommelier Fabien Vullion, two stars. Try it once for the pairing.
David Toutain runs the most personal cellar on this list from his two-star room on rue Surcouf in the seventh, where sommelier Fabien Vullion keeps a deep, idiosyncratic selection that earns a regular place on Star Wine List's Paris guide and lets you drink bottles at maturity. Toutain's cooking, the smoked eel with black sesame and apple and the egg with Jerusalem artichoke, is built for thoughtful pairing rather than trophy bottles. The long dinner tasting runs to about 295 euros, and the pairing is the smarter order than the carte. For a sommelier-led pairing rather than a cellar to plunder, book here. Take the pairing over a single bottle.
Book David Toutain; take Fabien Vullion's pairing.
7.Guy Savoy
Two stars at the Monnaie de Paris, the artichoke-truffle soup unchanged, a classic French cellar. Fly in for the list.
Guy Savoy cooks on the first floor of the Monnaie de Paris, the old royal mint on the quai de Conti in the sixth, with the Seine and the Louvre across the water. The room held three Michelin stars from 2002 to 2023 and carries two today, with a long classical French cellar that the sommelier reads with ease. The artichoke and black truffle soup with layered brioche and truffle butter has not changed in decades because it does not need to. For a classic French wine dinner with a view of the river, it earns its place. Book a window table and let the sommelier match the soup.
Reserve Guy Savoy; ask for a window and the truffle soup.
Avoid for this list
Great rooms, the wrong cellar for a trophy bottle
Septime. Bertrand Greaud's one-star in the eleventh is one of the best meals in Paris, but its cave is a natural-wine list, low-intervention and deliberately narrow, not a place for a Burgundy vertical. Go for the cooking and the discoveries; build a trophy-bottle night elsewhere.
Clamato. The no-booking seafood room next door pours brilliantly from the same natural-wine cellar, but it is oysters and small plates at the counter, not a list to plunder. Keep it for a walk-in lunch, not the grand bottle.
Drinking well in Paris
Corkage barely exists at this level in Paris and is usually refused, so the move is to brief the sommelier rather than carry a bottle in. Mark-ups run hardest at the palace hotels, Le Cinq, Epicure and Le Clarence, where a single considered bottle can beat a flight; at David Toutain the pairing is the better value and the better thought. Tell the sommelier the region and the budget when you book, not on the night, so the bottle is pulled and decanted before you sit.
By-the-glass thins out fast outside the pairing menus, and the rarest verticals at La Tour d'Argent and Le Taillevent never reach the printed list, so call ahead and ask. A weekday dinner buys you more of the sommelier's time than a full Saturday. To plan the rest of the trip, browse the Paris dining guide and the best French restaurants worldwide.
Frequently asked
Which Paris restaurant has the best wine list?
La Tour d'Argent, on the Quai de la Tournelle, keeps the deepest cellar in Paris, about 320,000 bottles across roughly 14,000 references, and head sommelier Victor Gonzalez can pull Burgundy and Bordeaux verticals no printed list shows. For breadth across France read by a team that knows it cold, Le Taillevent, named Star Wine List of the Year France 2025, is its closest rival. Both reward telling the sommelier your region and budget in advance.
Where is the best Bordeaux wine in Paris?
Le Clarence, off the Champs-Elysees. The two-star room is owned by Domaine Clarence Dillon, the company behind Chateau Haut-Brion and Chateau La Mission Haut-Brion, and its cellar holds more than 1,500 French references with Bordeaux depth you will not find elsewhere in the city. Tell the sommelier you want to drink Bordeaux and ask about the Haut-Brion stablemates. Le Taillevent's Bordeaux section, with Chateau Latour back to 1918, is the other place to look.
Is a wine pairing or a bottle better value in Paris?
It depends on the room. At sommelier-led kitchens such as David Toutain, the pairing is built course by course and is usually the better experience and the better value. At the palace hotels, Le Cinq, Epicure and Le Clarence, where list mark-ups run high, a single great bottle chosen with the sommelier often beats a flight. Either way, tell the sommelier your budget and the regions you want before you arrive.
Can you bring your own wine to a Paris restaurant?
Rarely at this level. Corkage is uncommon in Paris fine dining and is often declined outright, especially at the three-stars and palace hotels. If you own a special bottle, ask well in advance rather than turning up with it, and be ready for a no. The better route at all seven of these rooms is to brief the sommelier on what you want to drink and let the cellar provide it.
How far ahead should you book these Paris wine restaurants?
Two to four weeks for most, longer for the three-stars. Le Cinq and Epicure release tables weeks out and fill their prime evenings quickly; La Tour d'Argent and Le Taillevent take direct bookings and reward a call rather than a form. David Toutain and Guy Savoy are easier midweek. For any of them, book a weekday dinner if you want the sommelier's full attention, and state the wine you hope to drink when you reserve.
Related rankings
More from RFK
Browse the full Paris dining guide, compare the best French restaurants worldwide, read the worldwide ranking of wine lists, see the best chef's tables in Paris, or open the full RFK rankings index.
Restaurants for Kings is reader-supported. Some reservation links are affiliate links with OpenTable, Resy or Tock; we earn a small commission at no cost to you, and a link never buys a place on a ranking. Editorial scores and ranking order are independent of any commercial relationship. See our ranking methodology.