Château Les Grands Chênes 2019
The lowest price in the calendar, and a Médoc from a great year. Start here to have a benchmark: everything that follows is measured against this glass.
Guide price incl. VAT€12wooden case of 12
Christmas · 24 days, 24 wines
Wine Advent calendar: 24 Bordeaux wines, one a day
This is not a box of twenty-four sample vials. It is a route: one wine a day from 1 to 24 December, all in stock at Transvins, starting with the lowest price on the list and ending with a second growth for Christmas Eve. Each day says why this wine, in this place.
How to read it
Prices rise week by week, like going up a floor at a time. The area changes almost every day, so that by Christmas you have tasted the Médoc, the Right Bank, the Graves and Sauternes. The whites arrive when the oysters do, the sweet wine two days before the foie gras.
Under each wine: the guide price per bottle including VAT, and the case it is sold in. Transvins is a wine merchant: wines are sold by the full case of twelve or six, at list prices and while stocks last. The firm price is the one on the quote.
1 to 7 December: discoveries
The lowest prices on the list, and a tour of Bordeaux in one week: Médoc, Right Bank, Graves, Castillon, then the first two second wines.
Château Clément-Pichon 2011
Fifteen years in bottle for the price of a young wine. 2011 is an average year on paper, which means it has been ready for a while: this is what a Bordeaux with some age tastes like.
Guide price incl. VAT€16wooden case of 12
Château Fleur d'Arthus 2012
First crossing to the Right Bank: more Merlot, rounder wines. And a label lesson: "Saint-Émilion grand cru" is the name of the appellation, not a classification. The classification comes on the 14th.
Guide price incl. VAT€17wooden case of 12
Château Gazin Rocquencourt 2012
The Graves, south of Bordeaux: reds grown on gravel soils, often slightly smoky. The third area in four days.
Guide price incl. VAT€18wooden case of 12
Château Joanin Bécot 2012
Castillon borders Saint-Émilion, with the same soils and lower prices. Joanin Bécot belongs to the family of Château Beau-Séjour Bécot, a premier grand cru classé in Saint-Émilion.
Guide price incl. VAT€18wooden case of 12
Confidence de Prieuré-Lichine 2018
The 6th is St Nicholas' Day, and the day of the first second wine: same château, same team, younger vines, a much gentler price. Margaux, and 2018, a great year.
Guide price incl. VAT€19wooden case of 12
Duluc de Branaire-Ducru 2019
The second wine of Branaire-Ducru, a fourth growth. Taste it next to yesterday's bottle: Margaux and Saint-Julien are neighbours and do not taste alike.
Guide price incl. VAT€20case of 6
8 to 14: first whites, second wines, wines with age
The first white, the four Médoc villages completed, the first Pomerol, and to finish a 24-year-old wine.
Château Carbonnieux white 2023
The first white, just as the oysters arrive. Carbonnieux is classified for both its red and its white; the white is drunk young and cool, with seafood.
Guide price incl. VAT€29wooden case of 12
Château Poujeaux 2019
Moulis is the smallest of the Médoc's six village appellations, and one where you pay least for the name. 2019, a great year.
Guide price incl. VAT€23wooden case of 12
Lacoste-Borie 2017
The second wine of Grand-Puy-Lacoste. Pauillac, the appellation of three of the Médoc's first growths, at a weekday price.
Guide price incl. VAT€23wooden case of 12
Château Cos Labory 2014
Margaux on the 6th, Saint-Julien on the 7th, Pauillac on the 10th, Saint-Estèphe today: that completes the four great Médoc villages. Cos Labory is a fifth growth, and the 2014 is twelve years old, a good age to taste it.
Guide price incl. VAT€28wooden case of 12
Château Beau-Soleil 2016
The first Pomerol. Here there is no classification at all: Merlot on clay, and reputation does the rest. 2016, a great year.
Guide price incl. VAT€26wooden case of 12
Château Chasse-Spleen 2020
The name is said to come from Baudelaire, or from Byron; nobody is sure. The wine is one of the best-known in Moulis, and 2020 is a great year.
Guide price incl. VAT€28wooden case of 12
Château Clos des Jacobins 2002
Here it is, the Saint-Émilion classification. And a 24-year-old wine: forest floor, leather, dried fruit. This is the bottle that shows what time does to Bordeaux. Whether to decant it: see should you decant.
Guide price incl. VAT€24wooden case of 12
15 to 21: the classed growths
The week when prices rise: fifth growths, fourth growths, serious Pomerol, and one trip to Burgundy for comparison.
Château Grand-Puy Ducasse 2015
Classed-growth week begins (the 1855 classification). A Pauillac fifth growth from a great year, 2015, at a price that stays reasonable.
Guide price incl. VAT€34wooden case of 12
Château Latour-Martillac white 2019
A white with a few more years than the one on the 8th: richer, more weight. It stands up to fish in a sauce or to scallops.
Guide price incl. VAT€30wooden case of 12
Château Marquis de Terme 2017
Back to Margaux, a step above the 6th. 2017 is an average year: the wine opens early, which makes it a classed growth to drink now.
Guide price incl. VAT€31wooden case of 12
Château Saint-Pierre 2014
A Saint-Julien fourth growth at twelve years old. Put it next to the Duluc from the 7th: same village, two price levels.
Guide price incl. VAT€37wooden case of 12
Château Beauregard 2014
The second Pomerol, a step above the 12th. The Right Bank belongs in fine-wine week even without a classification.
Guide price incl. VAT€40wooden case of 12
Château Phélan Ségur 2018
Not classified in 1855, which does not tell the whole story: the classification is more than 170 years old. Saint-Estèphe, 2018, a great year.
Guide price incl. VAT€42wooden case of 12
Gevrey-Chambertin, Domaine Trapet 2018
On the 21st, the longest night of the year, one trip outside Bordeaux: Burgundy Pinot Noir, lighter and paler. The comparison is what makes Bordeaux make sense. Sold by the case of six.
Guide price incl. VAT€54case of 6
22 to 24: the festive wines
The last three doors follow the Christmas Eve meal: the sweet wine for the foie gras, the white for the fish, the red for the bird.
Château Rieussec 2008
Two days before Christmas Eve, the foie gras wine. An 18-year-old Sauternes first growth, served at 8–10 °C. The pairings are on which wine with foie gras.
Guide price incl. VAT€42wooden case of 12
Domaine de Chevalier white 2018
The Christmas Eve white, for fish or seafood. One of Bordeaux's great dry whites, built to keep for years; at eight years old it is starting to open.
Guide price incl. VAT€92wooden case of 12
Château Léoville Barton 2017
The last door: a Saint-Julien second growth, in the same family since 1826. 2017 makes it ready sooner than its neighbours. For capon or turkey; an hour in the decanter.
Guide price incl. VAT€70wooden case of 12
Why not a box of vials
The wine Advent calendars sold as boxes hold samples of a few centilitres, repackaged away from the château. Transvins sells bottles as they leave the estate, in their case. This calendar is read on this page, and drunk by the bottle.
Twenty-four bottles: how to do it
The simplest way: two cases of twelve make twenty-four bottles. A red from the first week and a white from the second are enough to open one bottle a night until the 24th. For a festive meal, the last three days make the menu; quantities per guest are on wine with Christmas dinner.
To be delivered before the holidays, order early: lead times are on when to order wine for the festive season. Name the days you like in a quote request; Transvins calls you back with prices and availability.
Does Transvins sell a boxed Advent calendar?
No. This page is a selection to read day by day; the wines are ordered by the full case, like the rest of the list.
Are the prices shown guaranteed?
They are the current list prices, including VAT and for guidance, valid while stocks last. Some wines exist in only one or two cases. The quote gives the firm price and confirms availability.
Why almost only Bordeaux?
Because it is Transvins' trade: a wine merchant in Bordeaux since 1986. The one exception, on the 21st, is there for comparison: a Burgundy Pinot Noir shows what makes a Bordeaux.
Can I give one of these wines as a present?
Yes, a case makes a fine present. Ideas by budget and by person are on which wine to give.