Wine bar · wine bistro · rotation
Wine for a wine bar or wine bistro: fifteen wines that change, not a list that sits still
A wine bar lives on what changes. Customers come back because there's something new by the glass, not because the list is long. Fifteen wines, a rotation every two months, a by-the-glass programme that follows the season, and Coravin to pour great growths by the glass without losing them. A Bordeaux wine merchant that accepts small minimums and doesn't ask for exclusivity does exactly that job.
Rotation, in practice
Fifteen lines for a 30-seat wine bistro. A third changes with each rotation; the rest is the core that regulars ask for.
| Block | Lines | Content | Pace |
|---|---|---|---|
| By the glass, core | 4 | A red, a white, a rosé or clairet, a sparkling. Bordeaux at €9–14 that drink well for three days once opened. | Stable, restocked every two weeks |
| By the glass, discovery | 3 | A less familiar appellation: Castillon, Fronsac, white Graves, a clairet, an old-vine white Bordeaux. This is the line that gets people talking. | Changes every two months |
| Bottles | 6 | Two crus bourgeois, two Right Bank, a white Pessac-Léognan, a classified growth. €15 to €45 to buy. | Three lines rotate each season |
| Coravin | 2 | A classified growth and an old vintage served by the glass, at €15–25 a glass, without opening the bottle. | Changes when the bottle is finished |
Coravin changes the numbers
A bottle of classified growth bought at €60, opened with a corkscrew, has to sell as six glasses that same evening or end up in a sauce. With a Coravin, it's served glass by glass over three weeks, at €20 a glass: €120 for €60 of purchase, with no loss, and a great name by the glass on the board. It's the only case where expensive wine by the glass is more profitable than easy-drinking wine. The by-the-glass markup calculator does the sums with or without losses, and shows the difference. For the core by the glass, the wine for bars and pubs page covers the four wines that rotate and the bag-in-box behind the counter.
Small minimums, no exclusivity
A fifteen-line rotation isn't bought ten cases at a time: three discovery wines at one case each, a classified growth at three bottles, a restock of the core at two cases. Transvins, a Bordeaux wine merchant (négociant) since 1986, works wine by wine: a case is a case, an old vintage is sold by the bottle, volume pricing applies where the volume is, on the core. No exclusivity: a wine bar lives on its variety, and Bordeaux is only one part of it. We supply Bordeaux, champagne and a few wines from other regions; the rest comes from elsewhere, and that's normal. Samples on request for the discovery lines, quote within 48 working hours with postage specified, delivery as parcels within a week, unopened cases not taken back. The full workings are on the wine for restaurants page.
Tell us what you already have on the board. Reply within 48 working hours.
How many wines for a wine bar?
Fifteen or so for 30 seats: seven by the glass, three of which change, six bottles, two great wines on Coravin. Beyond twenty-five, rotation slows and cash sits idle; below ten, customers have no reason to come back. The wine list generator does the split by colour, by price and by the glass for your number of seats.
How often should you change the list?
Every two months for the discovery lines by the glass, once a season for the bottles. The core doesn't change: these are the wines regulars order without looking at the board.
Can you buy a classified growth by the bottle, not by the case?
Yes, for classified growths and old vintages. The case remains the unit for the everyday wines of the core, where volume sets the price anyway.
Do you deliver within a week?
As parcels up to 120 bottles, yes. A wine bar that restocks every two weeks keeps a short stock without running out, and is never left with unopened cases.