Bistro · brasserie · Bordeaux supplier
Wine for a bistro or a brasserie: the carafe, the glass, and the Bordeaux that sells
A bistro doesn't sell a wine list, it sells volume at a price the customer doesn't question: the glass at €5 or €6, the carafe, the bottle under €30. What it needs is six or seven Bordeaux that sell every week, delivered quickly, at wine merchant prices. Not thirty wines gathering dust.
A bistro's range, in seven lines
A red Bordeaux
Supple, fruity, €7 to €9 a bottle. It fills the 25 and 50 cl carafes and the lunchtime glass. It's the wine that sells most: buy it ten cases at a time.
A dry white Bordeaux
Mostly sauvignon, €7 to €9. The starters, the fish of the day, the summer terrace. Drunk chilled, keeps three days once opened.
A rosé or a clairet
From April to October. Clairet is Bordeaux's dark rosé, with more body: it appeals to those who “don't drink rosé”.
A Bordeaux Supérieur
One notch up, €10 to €13. By the glass in the evening, by the bottle under €30 on the list.
Two Médoc crus bourgeois
€15 to €22 to buy, €35 to €50 on the list. The bottle for Friday night and the table of six.
A Right Bank wine
A Saint-Émilion or a satellite, Castillon, Fronsac, for those who want merlot and fruit. €12 to €20.
Sparkling
A champagne for the aperitif and birthdays at the table. Crémant, on request, for the €6 glass.
The bag-in-box behind the bar
For the carafe and the lunchtime glass, a 5 or 10 litre bag-in-box is nothing to be ashamed of, it's a tool: a quarter cheaper per litre, no opened bottle to throw away on Monday, four weeks' keeping once opened, tap service that's faster than a corkscrew. It stays behind the bar; in the dining room, you serve the carafe or the decanter. The bag-in-box or bottle comparison puts a figure on the difference for your monthly volume. The crus bourgeois and the sparkling stay in bottle: bag-in-box doesn't exist at that level.
The price by the glass, and the margin left
A Bordeaux bought at €8 excl. VAT gives six 12 cl glasses; at €5.50 a glass, the bottle brings in €33 for €8 of purchase, a markup of 4. That's the sum the by-the-glass markup calculator does, losses and bottle ends included, and it's what keeps a bistro going: wine by the glass is the most profitable line in the house, ahead of the bottle and far ahead of the kitchen. A wine merchant's sliding prices work on this line: ten cases of the carafe red a month is the volume where the price comes down.
How we work with a bistro
Transvins has been a Bordeaux wine merchant (négociant) since 1986. For a bistro, that means: samples of the four or five wines you're considering by the glass, a quote within 48 working hours with prices per case and shipping stated, delivery in parcels within a week, restocking every two or three weeks. No exclusivity: your everyday wines from the South-West, the Rhône or the Loire stay with your other suppliers; outside Bordeaux, we only have a short selection. Unopened cases are not taken back, which doesn't matter for a bistro that restocks often. The wine for restaurants page describes how it all works.
Give your monthly volume by the glass. Reply within 48 working hours.
How many wines should a bistro list?
Six to eight: a carafe red and white, a seasonal rosé, a Bordeaux Supérieur, two crus bourgeois, a Right Bank wine, a sparkling. A 120-cover brasserie doubles the volumes, not the number of lines. The wine list generator spreads these lines by colour and price for your covers, ready to print.
Which Bordeaux for the carafe?
A supple red Bordeaux at €7 to €9 a bottle, or its equivalent in bag-in-box. It has to be drunk young, slightly cool, without grippy tannin: it's an easy-drinking wine, not a wine for laying down, and the customer knows it.
Do customers see the bag-in-box?
No, if it stays behind the bar and the dining room gets a carafe or a decanter. What people see is a carafe served quickly and cool. What they notice is a bottle opened three days ago.
How long does restocking take?
A week in parcels up to 120 bottles, on a quote beyond that on a pallet. Short enough to hold two to three weeks of stock and not tie up cash.