Paul McGivern and Bailee Dewes to farewell La Lune Wine Co after nearly a decade
One of Brisbane’s best wine bars is changing hands. After nine years and thousands of glasses poured, Paul McGivern and Bailee Dewes have sold their lauded Fish Lane wine bar, La Lune, with this week marking their final service. As they prepare for a slower pace of life, Paul and Bailee reflect on the community they built, the challenges they overcame and what comes next.
Paul McGivern and Bailee Dewes were inspired to open La Lune Wine Co in 2017 after falling in love with Burgundian wine during their travels through France.
Nine years later, it was another trip to France that helped them decide it was time to step away.
Yes, Paul and Bailee have sold their heralded wine bar to new owners. This week will be their last overseeing the kitchen and floor, respectively, before the keys to their South Brisbane institution are handed over. Though the news broke suddenly via social media last week, the decision, Paul tells us, has been knocking around in their brains for a while.
“I think we decided at the end of 2024,” says Paul. “We’d just come back from France – our first holiday since COVID – and realised it might be time.”
Paul and Bailee have been a ubiquitous presence at La Lune since they opened the venue on Fish Lane nearly a decade ago. They’ve been on deck as the laneway flourished and kept their steady hands on the tiller though the stormy seas of the pandemic.
While it’s this hands-on approach that helped Paul and Bailee build a thriving community around La Lune, it also greatly contributed to their decision to hand over the reins.
“The business revolves around us being here all the time,” says Paul. “Holidays have been few and far between.”
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When we sat down with Paul and Bailee a few hours before service last Saturday, the duo was in a reflective mood. Since announcing the news, regulars have poured in to express their appreciation and adoration for the couple.
“Over the last few weeks there have been a lot of hugs and kisses,” says Bailee, with a laugh. “It’s awful bawling your eyes out in the middle of the dining room, mid-service.”
When La Lune opened, Brisbane’s wine bar scene was still in its infancy. Cru Bar was an established powerhouse, but the majority of the venues that fill our current best-of list were years away from opening.
With a mandate to showcase the wines from Burgundy, La Lune – named as a direct nod to Paul’s old East Brisbane restaurant The Wolfe – was widely regarded amongst oenophiles as one of the best places to cop a top drop. For nine years, Paul and Bailee have kept La Lune’s 200-strong list (a cleverly curated blend of classic and contemporary) one of the best collections in the city.
“We wanted it to be a hub where you could come and drink 30 offerings of wine by the glass – we always wanted to have a lot of different wines for people to have the chance to taste them,” recalls Bailee.
“We’ve always been pinot- and chardonnay-dominated, but the idea is that the wine can change, and we can make it work with the food. I always wanted to have at least seven wines you could have with one dish, so that way I’ve been able to play creatively with all the different wines and all the different selections.”
And while the vino-savvy set has always formed a loyal core of La Lune’s clientele, the venue’s warmth and accessibility have given it an appeal that stretches far beyond wine obsessives. When asked about the secret to La Lune’s success, Bailee believes it’s the team’s ability to make all comers feel at home that has had the greatest impact.
“I think people like walking into a venue and having you know their name, where they usually sit and what they like to drink,” says Bailee. “Building that connection immediately is what we’ve always maintained at the bar.
Subscribe for updates“What we’ve built over nearly ten years is the community – they’ve backed us through COVID and backed us when we were in front of a construction site for three years.”
“That’s our biggest flex,” adds Paul. “I reckon that we’ve been full every night since we’ve opened, pretty much.”
When Paul and Bailee decided to find a new operator for their cherished bar, they knew finding someone with a similar knowledge base and level of enthusiasm would be a tall order. In good news for La Lune regulars, the duo have found the ideal custodian.
From June, La Lune will be under the ownership of Andy Day – the owner and operator behind award-winning Canberra wine bar Rizla.
“For us to pass the torch on to the next person, we had to agree on a lot of things – in the wine world, in hospitality and in terms of our little community space, because it’s such a family here,” says Bailee.
“It wasn’t just about selling to anybody – we were basically looking for a unicorn to keep the business going at a certain level,” adds Paul. “[Andy’s] really an aromatic specialist. Last year he won Australia’s Best Wine List (Max 100 Wines), so he’s really on it.”
Andy will join Paul and Bailee for their final week, before taking over the floor duties moving forward.
So, what’s next for Paul and Bailee themselves? Well, the couple will be taking a well-earned holiday, with trips to Tasmania and France planned for the immediate future. Paul also reveals they’ve bought a property just outside Tenterfield, where the duo plan on putting down roots.
“We’re gonna go out there and build a little house and plant some fruit and veg,” says Paul. “Then we’ll just see where it takes us – there’s all sorts of possibilities.”
While the couple have no firm plans for their next professional project, neither Paul or Bailee feel like they’re out of the hospitality game just yet.
“I don’t think we’ll ever be done with hospitality, but we probably need to reinvent ourselves inside of hospitality and not be quite the slaves that we have been,” says Paul. “In 13 years, all we’ve ever done is chuck two days on a weekend and have four days off.
“It’s been a bloody great nine years but it’s definitely time to have a break and have a rebirth ourselves.”
Head to The Directory for La Lune Wine Co’s operating hours and booking details.
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