Festive season · countdown
Wine for the festive season: when should you order by?
Client gifts before 20 November, Christmas dinner before 5 December. After that, the carriers are full and every day's delay costs two. Enter your date: the calendar tells you what needs to be done, and when.
Your December countdown
Set to 45 days, because in December delivery takes twice the usual time. The steps are recalculated from the date you enter.
The two dates that matter
| Need | Firm order before | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Client gifts, sent to several addresses | 20 November | Each parcel is a separate shipment, and the carriers are saturated from 1st December. A shipment to 40 addresses placed on 25 November will reach some of them after Christmas. |
| Christmas dinner, a single address | 5 December | A grouped delivery still gets through in the second week of December. After the 10th, no date is promised. |
| New Year's Eve, a single address | 12 December | The week between Christmas and New Year is short and the depots close. Whatever hasn't left by the 22nd waits for January. |
| New Year drinks in January | 15 December | To be delivered before the year-end closure, or in the first week of January at the earliest. |
For gifts, the wine as client gifts page works out the budget per gift and the VAT threshold. For the meal, the what wine with the Christmas menu page goes through the menu dish by dish.
What is still possible late
Wines in stock, grouped delivery
What is in the warehouse leaves the day after you confirm. No special orders, no personalised labels, but a real selection of Bordeaux and champagne.
Collection in Bordeaux
You come and collect the cases from rue Édouard Faure. The quote is done by email, payment in advance, loading by appointment. It is the solution for latecomers in the Gironde.
Personalised labels, rare vintages
A label in your name takes three weeks. An old vintage takes a search. Neither is done well under pressure.
Ordering in October
Wine doesn't spoil in a case over six weeks. The price doesn't go up in December. There is no reason to wait, except habit.
Why December takes longer
A parcel of wine that takes two days in October takes four to six in December. Carriers handle three times the volume, depots sort through the night, and missed deliveries, with nobody to sign or an office address closed, go back into the queue. On a pallet delivered to a single address, the effect is smaller; on forty parcels to forty addresses, it is certain. Off-season lead times are on the delivery page, and the general timetable, valid the rest of the year, on the how far ahead to order the wine page.
Is 10 December too late to order wine for Christmas?
No for a meal at a single address with wines in stock: the grouped delivery still gets through, with no guaranteed date. Yes for gifts to several addresses or a personalised label. Collection in Bordeaux remains possible until 22 December.
Will wine delivered in November keep until Christmas?
Without any difficulty. A closed case, away from light and below 20 °C, keeps a Bordeaux or a champagne for months with no effect at all. The only risk is a garage in full sun, and there isn't one in November.
Do prices go up in December?
Not at a wine merchant's: the price of a bottle in stock is the same in October and in December. What goes up is the postage, when you have to switch to express to rescue a late order. Ordering early is the only discount there is.
Can you get a quote in November and order in December?
Yes, and that is the right way to do it. The quote is no commitment and remains valid as long as the stock lasts. A firm order before 20 November guarantees delivery; a quote in October mainly guarantees that the question has been asked. The right moment to ask is often the back-to-work drinks in September.