Especially in Bordeaux, it is common practice to pre-order wines at an agreed or fixed price as part of a subscription, long before they are bottled or tasted. Such wines are then often only available one, two or even more years later, after they have been matured. The French term "Arrivage" means "arrival" (or "entrance") and more narrowly means the delivery of this pre-ordered wine to the end customer. In a broader sense, it refers to the period of time during which the wineries and wine trading houses make deliveries of such wines. There are also so-called "arrivage tastings" where the subscription wines that are delivered are tasted by members of an "arrivage round". The commonality of such rounds (groups) results from ordering a certain wine at the same time, which is delivered by a certain winery or trading house. See also under the keywords wine evaluation and wine address.
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Technischer Lehrer, staatl. geprüfter Sommelier, Hotelfachschule Heidelberg