Concierge service · palace hotel concierge · rare wine
Concierge services and palace hotel concierges: finding the bottle the client asks for
A 1982 Pauillac for tonight, a birth-year wine for a birthday in a suite, a magnum of vintage champagne for a proposal. The request arrives vague and urgent; it gets settled faster when it arrives complete. This form prepares the request to send to Transvins, a wine merchant in Bordeaux, and to its sister shop on the Côte d'Azur, with what is needed to answer yes or no without back-and-forth.
Prepare the request
Nothing is sent until you click on the quote. The client's name isn't asked for: Transvins replies to the concierge.
What Transvins can find
- Old Bordeaux vintages, mostly from the 1970s to the 2000s, first and second growths included: the detail is on the page great growths and old vintages.
- The client's birth year, and above all what it is still worth: the birth-year vintage tool says, from 1945 to 2010, what is drinking and what is past it.
- Prestige champagne, cuvées and vintages: see champagne, prestige cuvées.
- Large formats, mostly magnums, depending on the château and the vintage.
What isn't in stock can be searched for, with no guarantee. Transvins says what it has, at what price, in what condition; it doesn't promise a bottle it hasn't seen.
What a concierge should ask about an old bottle
The client is paying for a bottle they will open in front of their guests. Three questions avoid an awkward moment.
The fill level
In the neck or at the base of the neck: normal up to twenty years. Top shoulder: acceptable beyond thirty. Lower: a risk the price must reflect, and the client must know about.
The provenance
Bought from the château or through the trade and kept in the cellar ever since, or passed through auctions? Ask; the answer sets the price.
The photo
Label, capsule, fill level, for every bottle, before confirming to the client. A capsule that has leaked tells of heat damage.
For hotels and yachts
A hotel concierge who buys regularly for rooms (welcome bottle, birthday, loyal guest) will find the options on VIP in-room gift and, for the whole hotel, on wine for hotels. A concierge service provisioning a charter yacht: the yacht provisioning calculator builds the order for the cruise.
On the Côte d'Azur, Le Paradis du Vin, Transvins' sister shop at 2720 chemin de Saint-Bernard in Vallauris, is a quarter of an hour from Cannes and Antibes: collection in the shop Tuesday to Saturday, delivery to be confirmed on the quote. Elsewhere in France, the delivery scale gives the order of magnitude, and the quote confirms the date.
Can you get a rare bottle for the same evening?
In Bordeaux and on the Côte d'Azur, sometimes: if the bottle is already in the cellar in Bordeaux or Vallauris. Elsewhere, rarely: safe transport for a valuable bottle takes at least a day. Put the date in the request; if it is too close, we tell you straight away rather than promise.
Do you work with concierge services and hotel concierges?
Yes: the request comes from the concierge, the reply goes to the concierge. Terms for a concierge service that orders regularly are discussed with the first quote; the invoice can be in the name of the concierge service, the hotel or the client.
What if the requested vintage is a poor one?
Tell the client, with a solution. A weak year in Bordeaux can be good in Sauternes or champagne; a wine from the year may be too tired to drink but perfect to give, unopened, with its story. The birth-year vintage tool decides year by year.
Do you deliver to the hotel reception?
Yes, in mainland France, in the concierge's name, with the name of the person receiving it. Old bottles travel upright, wedged, and rest for at least a day before being opened.
Can you add a card or a personalised label?
A handwritten card, yes. A personalised label: on request. On a great growth, we keep the château's label and add the card.