Wine Calais

02/09/2026

September. The kids are back to school. New shoes, new backpack, a slightly panicked look on their face.

You, meanwhile, have homework of your own: The 6–4 Return Match is still on. Buy 6 bottles of selected Bordeaux, pay for just 4.

No timetable. No homework. No standing in a playground at 8:45am making small talk with people you don't remember the names of.

Just a boot full of wine and until 30 September to make the most of it.

Calais Vins · Olivier Vins et Compagnie. Term hasn't started for us either.

30/08/2026

Thank you The Independent for featuring us — and for naming Calais Vins your personal favourite! 🍷🇫🇷

We’ve been helping British visitors find the right bottles for 24 years, so it’s lovely to see the Calais booze cruise is still very much alive. See you on this side of the Channel! 🇬🇧➡️🇫🇷

Tempted by low prices and high quality bottles, Lucy Shrimpton takes a trip across the Channel to purchase the best of Calais’ wine offering

28/08/2026

We're not saying this is a lot of wine. We're saying the suspension disagrees.

This is what happens when you take the 6–4 Return Match seriously: buy 6 bottles of selected Bordeaux, pay for just 4, until 30 September. The car did not consent to this. The car is fine. Probably.

Monday 31 August is a Bank Holiday, which means one extra day to fill a boot that was never designed for this. Spend €300 and your ferry day trip is on us.

UK visitors can also claim back around 15% VAT on top, conditions apply. (The suspension situation is not covered under any warranty we know of.)

Calais Vins · Olivier Vins et Compagnie — since 1981 and 1972, and yet somehow this is a first.

26/08/2026

THE LITTLE YELLOW BOTTLE TAKING OVER THE APÉRO THIS SUMMER ☀️💛

If you've spent any time in France this summer, you may already have spotted this one.

Ricard 4.5% — ready to drink.

And judging by what we're seeing, it's proving rather popular with younger and not-so-young drinkers. 😏

It's Ricard, but not quite as you know it.

No measuring. No adding water. No wondering whether your friend's idea of “just a little Ricard” is the same as yours. 😂

It's already mixed, 4.5% ABV, comes in a 20cl bottle and is designed to be drunk very cold, straight from the bottle.

In other words, it behaves a bit like a beer…

except it's unmistakably Ricard. 🇫🇷

And this little yellow bottle seems to be one of the hits of the French apéro this summer.

We have them at Calais Vins and Olivier Vins for €2.49 a bottle.

So if you've discovered them on holiday, you know where to make one last French stop before heading home. ☀️🇫🇷🇬🇧

Who has tried one already? 👀

24/08/2026

**6 bottles. Pay for 4. 🍷**

The match may be over, but this score is sticking around until the end of September. 😏

This time: **La Fleur Pauillac 2017** — a Pauillac with a few good years behind it and ready to enjoy.

🍷 6 bottles: **€71.60 instead of €107.40**

And if you’re travelling back to the UK, you can also claim back around **15% VAT**, subject to conditions.

**Two bottles you’re not paying for. And VAT back on top.**

Now *that’s* a result worth celebrating. 🍷

⚽ The 6–4 Return Match
📅 Until 30 September
📍 Calais Vins & Olivier Vins

20/08/2026

POV: you popped into Calais Vins “just for a few bottles”. 🍷

Then you saw the selection.

Then the prices.

Then someone mentioned you could claim back around 15% VAT.

And suddenly… that trolley didn’t seem quite big enough. 😏

Welcome to the Calais Vins experience. 🇫🇷🍷

Just don’t blame us when the boot is full.

18/08/2026

You’ve clearly been drinking La Cadette on your holidays this summer… 🍺☀️

And it seems quite a few of you have fallen for the glass too.

We get it. We love it too. 😍

So, a little public service announcement for anyone heading back to the UK through Calais:

Stop Googling “La Cadette beer glass”. 😂
Yes, we have them at Calais Vins and Olivier Vins

Beer, glass, and a little piece of your French summer to take home. 🇫🇷🍺

Pop in on your way back!

16/08/2026

TRUE STORY FROM YESTERDAY 🍺🇬🇧

Two mates from Cardiff walked into Calais Vins for the first time yesterday.

Let’s call them John and Andy. Because, well… those are their names. 😄

John casually mentioned that he has a pub in his garden.

Not a little garden bar.

Apparently, it’s about the size of THREE garages.🤯🍻

He loves good beer — and likes having a few rather special bottles on display too — so naturally, he found his way to our “posh beer” aisle.

And then he spotted a Delirium Black Barrel Aged 75cl.

Our price with the VAT claimed back? Around €24.

John told us:

You won’t find that for less than £80 back home.

Really?! 👀

Now, before anyone gets the wrong idea…

No, that wasn’t the only beer he left with. 😂

A man with a three-garage-sized pub in his garden doesn't come all the way from Cardiff to Calais for ONE bottle.

And no, we haven’t been invited to see this legendary garden pub yet.

Yet. 🍻👀

John, Andy — you know where to find us.

14/08/2026

Three minutes. That's all England needed to open the scoring against France in Miami.
Declan Rice, straight through the middle. No hesitation.

We're just as quick to open a bottle of Fonrose Médoc 2022.

Buy 6, pay for 4 — €31.60 instead of €47.40.
UK visitors can also claim back around 15% VAT on top, conditions apply.

The 6–4 Return Match runs until 30 September at Calais Vins and Olivier Vins.

One down, five to go. Cheers to football. Cheers to Bordeaux.

12/08/2026

🌑 London, you can still make it.

We’ve done the maths. 😎

The eclipse reaches its maximum in Calais at around 8:14–8:15pm tonight, with 91% of the Sun covered.

So if you’re in London and leave… well, pretty much now, you could still make it to Calais in time. 🇬🇧➡️🇫🇷

And if you’re already in Kent? You’ve got time. You could even pack a few things first. 😂

Jérôme is ready.
The eclipse glasses are ready.
And being Calais Vins… we may have a bottle or two ready as well. 🍷

See you in Calais at 8:14pm? 🌑😎

Proper eclipse glasses are essential. The wine is optional.