Wedding · peak season · countdown
Wedding in June, July or September: order the wine early
One wedding in two in France takes place between June and September. Tastings get booked up, rosé runs short in July, delivery drivers deliver to everyone on the same Friday. For a summer wedding, the firm order is placed in April. Enter your date: the calendar tells you where you stand.
Your wedding countdown
Set to 120 days, a month more than the ordinary calendar, because in season every step waits behind another wedding.
What gets stretched, and when
Tastings
Every couple wants to taste on a Saturday. A wine merchant sees people by appointment on weekdays, a wine shop is busy at weekends. Book in March, or have samples sent to you.
Rosé and sparkling
The year's rosé sells out in three months. Champagne doesn't run short, but vintage champagnes and magnums go first. An order placed in April reserves the cases.
Deliveries
Every Saturday wedding wants delivery on the Thursday or Friday. Carriers group loads, time slots shift. Delivering on the Tuesday is the solution nobody asks for, and it works.
Keeping it cold
Forty bottles of sparkling at 30 °C under a marquee don't chill themselves. The caterer has a cold room; the venue rarely has one big enough. Check in May, not on the morning itself.
The dates for a wedding on 20 June
| When | Date | What |
|---|---|---|
| D-120 | 20 February | Quantities set with the calculator on the wedding wine page, budget decided, first quotes requested. |
| D-90 | 20 March | Tasting, or samples received. Choice of the red for the meal, the white, the sparkling. |
| D-60 | 20 April | Firm order. The cases are reserved, the price is fixed, the delivery date is set. |
| D-30 | 20 May | Payment. Cold storage checked with the caterer or the venue. Delivery address confirmed with a name and a phone number on site. |
| D-7 | 13 June | Delivery, on a Tuesday or Wednesday. Cases counted on receipt, photos if a case is damaged. |
| D-1 | 19 June | Whites and sparkling chilled the day before. Reds in the shade, standing upright. |
The off-season calendar, with a month less at each step, is on the page how far ahead to order the wine. Lead times and shipping costs are on the delivery page.
At D-15, what is still possible
- Wines in stock, delivered to a single address. A quote on Monday, agreement on Tuesday, delivery the following week. No choice of vintage, but a real choice of appellation.
- Collection in Bordeaux. For a wedding in the Gironde or the Landes, collecting the cases yourself removes the transport and its uncertainty.
- A simplified split. One red, one white, one sparkling. No third colour, no different wine for each moment: it can be chosen in an hour and delivered in one go.
- No personalised label, no old vintage. Three weeks for the first, a search for the second. That is the price of being late, and it is better to know it than to find out.
If you are working with a professional, the wedding planner page explains how we work with them: quantities calculated together, delivery to the venue, and a single point of contact.
When should you order the wine for a June wedding?
Firm order in April, ninety days before, and tasting in March. That is a month earlier than a winter wedding, because everything that comes before the order, appointments, samples, quotes, waits behind the season's other weddings.
Does rosé really run short in summer?
A year's rosé sells between April and August, and the most popular cuvées are sold out by July. A wine merchant keeps some back for orders already placed; not for those arriving on 1st July. Ordering in April reserves the cases.
Which day should you take delivery for a Saturday wedding?
The Tuesday or Wednesday of the wedding week. On Thursday and Friday, every wedding on the same Saturday is having its delivery, time slots slip and a delay has no margin left. Two days early costs the wine nothing; it waits very happily in a case in the shade.
What if the wedding is in two weeks?
Ask for a quote on wines in stock, delivered to a single address or collected in Bordeaux. Keep it simple: one red, one white, one sparkling. Give up whatever needs lead time, a personalised label or a rare vintage. It is doable, and it will be good; it won't be made to measure.