Trinity College Dublin’s catering unit is planning to spend more than €1,600 a week on wine solely for private events, with the average bottle set to cost just over €20.
The university is advertising for a distributor to supply it with at least 8,466 bottles at a total estimated cost of €170,000 excluding value added tax (VAT) over a two-year period.
While most clients of Trinity’s catering division are external – “availing of catering and banqueting services provided through the dining hall or other hired venues on campus” – the university itself is also a client for certain functions, including conferences, dinners and launches. “In such cases the specific department is billed for the purchase of beverages,” a spokeswoman said.
Most of Trinity’s 17,000 students are unlikely to taste a drop of the consignment, as it will only be for use at private events, not in its bars. The private clients will be “invoiced directly” for the wine.
Among the items being requested are some 2,940 bottles of house red, and some 2,930 bottles of house white.
Trinity is also proposing to buy more than 360 bottles of Prosecco, 444 bottles of Merlot and 624 bottles of Sauvignon Blanc.
Domaine Pascal Jolivet Sancerre
While the university, established by royal charter in 1592, isn't quite offering its guests bottles of Château Lafite Rothschild, some of its higher-end requests include Domaine Pascal Jolivet Sancerre and the Chilean Valdivieso Reserva. It will, however, settle for an "equivalent standard" if those specific wines are not available.
Tenderers must have a minimum annual turnover of €340,000 and have fulfilled three similar contracts in the last three years, one of which should have been the supply of wine to a third-level institution. While the contract length of two years will not be extended or shortened, the estimated value could exceed or fall short of the estimated €170,000 as that figure is based on “current and future expected usage”.
The deadline to apply to be the next provider of wine to the university’s catering team is September 7th.
