I thought he was saying not wanting to be a best as in pushing them to ship it immediately and they just randomly shipped it this week.
[quote=“TBurklow”]Cliffs notes:
I ordered about 4 cases of wine from a shop a few months back and asked for them to be shipped, and they responded back with the fact that they ship temperature controlled, and that timing therefore doesn’t matter. A large majority of: importers, distributors and retailers look to save the additional cost available as a shipping option. We spend $4,000 additional for a temperature controlled container from France to the West Coast. Most importers would prefer rationalizing that money right into their pocket. It is like that every step of the process from the winery to your home. It is so difficult to earn a profit that everyone cuts costs, particularly a cost not seen. I’ve learned not to trust anyone.
I emailed the retailer and got the response…
_Tyler,
\
- The wines are sent to the temperature controlled hub In Illinois from Napa in a temperature controlled truck. ( You can only ship over night with wine from May - November. Over night, express. Early day delivery and if the wines are “fine”, think about the time of year and if they are really important to you ice pack or gel pack and over night. do not screw around and trust anyoneThe last leg is in standard UPS trucks but the wines are cool when they leave the warehouse in the morning. You can put a gauge in that reads the temperature by the hour, check it out.
- The drivers have no idea what happened to the wine before they get it. Of course not.
- We use the best and most expensive insulated shippers (styrofoam) to ensure that the wine stays cool on the last day. Really? I do not know the price of these wines, however if we ship May - November it must be overnight only
You ever wonder why some wineries release their wines in May and June?
if you buy fine wines do not trust anyone, use your good judgement and ship over ngith with all safety precautions.
Whatever you do, please do not taste your wine within 3 and preferably 6 weeks to see how it is. It is in bottle shock and will certainly taste like garbage. Burgundies are particularly susceptible. Whites less than reds, but waiting is key._ if the wine cooked, it is cooked…
OP said, “some of the corks are raised”. I send them all back, put stop payment on my credit card. The bottles are potentially compromised. Major fail.
For the record, I accepted a case last year under similar circumstances, and against my better judgment. I will never ever do that again. We spend our hard earned money on this passion, spending more than most would on a bottle of wine, so why compromise when a retailer sends wine in hot conditions.
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I am pretty easy going and tolerant about such things (as it sounds like you are as well), but I do think the comments about how they said one thing and did another is a real problem. I would just let them know that you are not happy with their definition of temperature controlled shipping. If the bottle is off, I would definitely let them know. Frankly if they don’t give you a full refund plus something else, I would not order from them again. I don’t if the wine is such that it should be aged, but that makes it even more problematic to me. When you open a bottle in xx years, and it is bad, are they going to do anything? Probably not. Sorry you were treated this way. Just not very good customer service.
If they are being unfair, I would open a bottle and say it tasted a bit off then they will have to take your word and refund you.
Return the bottles and ask for a refund. I wouldn’t trust any shipment that resulted in raised corks.
Bottles are highly likely to be damaged if corks are pushed.
Store didn’t live up to their promise about shipping.
“Bottle shock?” Are they ignorant or lying? Heat damage might be less overtly apparent after a month or two (perhaps the reason for their advice) but the wine will never be the same.
I wouldn’t open even one.
I would:
- Take pictures.
- Tell them I’m not paying but I’ll return them if they want them back. On their dime.
- Dispute the charge with the credit card company.
- Never use them again.
I’d never ship in warm weather regardless of what any retailer or winery says. Maybe next day in a wine emergency if there is such a thing.
This + 100. If they’re so confident in their temperature controlled shipping in the warm weather it shouldn’t be a problem. If it was me, I’d give them a chance to make it right and then move on if I was unhappy with their efforts. Everyone can make mistakes, it’s how you handle the mistake that earns my repeated business.
Your shift key is broken. Should look into getting a new keyboard.
Thanks for this. I have zero interest in buying wine from someone who treats their customers this way. First with misinformation, then with the rude and nonsensical reply to their concern.
I got three cases from them Friday too and also questioned why in the hell the would be shipping now. They gave me the pushback about controlled temp ect ect except for the last day. So many variables where this shipping was going to get messed up, I have no idea why they couldn’t see the issues. Mine thankfully arrived well and on a coolish day. I stopped ordering though until I saw how this played out and how they would have responded if the wine was compromised so I’ll be curious to hear their response.
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Yep. Agree to return them.
Yo,
Protruding cork ? No likey. The quality of wine retailers in this country is overall shit. I spend way too much time chasing down retailers trying to make them make good on their shit. I’m f*cking done. Send them all back and demand a refund. Out them here for the dumb asses they are.
hope all is good.
3 to 6 week wait? Hummm. Just about the time where as you could not reverse the charge with the CC company.
I’ve always been curious as to why certain wineries will ship regardless of the temperature. I live in AZ…so you can imagine my shipping window is like November-March. Venge, Gamble and others will ship 2 day FedEx with an ice pack. Other smaller places like Fait-Main and Kata will place me on a weather hold. Is it the shipper or the Winery making the decisions on this? Really sucks buying wine most of the year here.
Sometimes you gotta read between the Lines. bY then the answer will reveaL itsElf to you. Follow All the SignS.
Damn, didn’t know it was that bad
Bumping this thread.
I have tried multiple bottles of cooked wine from this shipment. All cooked and leaking wine. I gave them plenty of time to “settle” per the sellers instructions and here is his response when I told him they are all cooked.
Tyler,
Upon receiving your E-Mail, I initiated a review of the wines and your delivery of the wines.
To get a sense of how the wines are drinking, we tried some recent vintages.
We tried 2014 again on February 2, 2022. Unfortunately, the bottle we tried was prematurely oxidized. While one can still taste the brilliance of the wine that you and we both loved (great fruit, texture and acidic balance), it is unquestionably and sadly clearly marked by premature oxidation.
I also just had the 2015 Puligny (needed an hour as it was fakakte for the first hour and then blossomed) and gave it a 9.4.
I also had the 2015 St. Aubin Chateniere a few months ago and gave it a 9.5. So the 14 appears to be problematic and the 15s are likely on the edge of being premoxed.
The delivery was on May 17th at 5-6PM… The high that day was 83 degrees. Most of the day was in the mid 70’s. The wines were packed in insulated boxes and left a temperature controlled warehouse to get on the truck that day.
In our 9 years of history delivering hundreds of thousands of bottles of wine, we have never had a wine that was heat damaged including many wines that were delivered in 90 degree weather. I have had bottles delivered to me personally in 90 degree weather and none were heat damaged. I know what heat damaged wine tastes like from my years in retail with previous companies. It’s very easy to tell. The insulation that we use, in our experience, protects the wines. Heat damage normally occurs when wines are transported in standard uninsulated boxes and exposed to prolonged high heat.
As you of course know, White Burgundy is among the highest risk categories for premature oxidation. There are many articles on the topic as well as an excellent thread on Wine Berserkers. Unfortunately, the industry still does not know what causes it.
I cannot say for sure, but the fact that Morel is a natural winemaker, as we noted in the E-Mails, may increase this risk. To be honest, the minimal use of sulfites makes natural wines subject to all manner of potential problems with increased bottle age. When well made natural wines are drinking well, they can be magical. They can drink well above their price points. Certainly Morel can. But there is always that risk. It’s a risk I am willing to take with a small portion of my personal wine collection.
Natural wines in general and Morel in particular can also bounce all around over a 24 hour period. They can be awful for an hour and then brilliant and then awful again. And, of course, different bottles of the same wine can behave differently even on the same night.
My general strategy when drinking White Burgundy is to drink it young (within 5-6 years) so as to avoid the risk of premature oxidation. I don’t cellar large amounts of older wines.
I do cellar the occasional Grand Cru that has seen oak or the occasional Premier Cru as an experiment. But by dollar spent, my average age of drinking is 5 years or less so as to minimize my risk over my White Burgundy portfolio. If I lose 5% to premature oxidation, it is a risk I am prepared to shoulder as a buyer.
Almost all of the White Burgundies that we sell can be drunk on arrival. We intentionally select White Burgundies that fit this profile because of the risk of premature oxidation from ageing.
My advice is to drink the wines cold from the fridge over the next year or so. If they are prematurely oxidized, the temperature will mask the sherry notes and you will still be able to taste the gorgeous rich fruit.
Lyle
On Wed, Feb 9, 2022 at 4:12 PM Tyler Burklow <tyler wrote:
They taste cooked. Really undrinkable.
Who is the retailer?
Lyle Fass of Fass Selections