Idiot shipper - what to do?

[Michael-P]

About 6 months ago I bought a case of 09 Bordeaux from a retailer on the East Coast for about $60/bottle. That wine is now available retail for about $90/bottle.

I called the shop last week and asked them to ship it to San Francisco on Monday this week. They said they would need to "order" it and would ship when it was ready. That got me thinking they never had the wine and maybe never would but all I could do was wait and see.

On Thursday this week I got a notice that my wine had been shipped and would be delivered on Monday. I had paid for 2-day shipment, but since the shop had shipped it out on Thursday, the 2nd business day shipment delivery date is Monday.

My worry is that the wine will sit in a truck and/or warehouse over the weekend, in Texas or Southern California, where temps could be 70F and the inside of the truck be much warmer.

Should I worry? Is there anything I can do than hope its OK when I open it in 20 years from now?

Michael-P

[JimHow]

That happened to me with my order of German wines from PJs.
The bottles seem in great shape.
An extra day, I really don't think it's going to be a big deal.

[Rieslingfan]

I would not be concerned.

[dstgolf]

Don't fret Michael. Temperatures in the 80-90 degree range aren't gong to harm the wine. 90+ I'd start to worry but how many wine tours have I/you done where palates of wine are sitting in non air conditioned rooms waiting for shipping for days. Do you think the cargo holds of the ships crossing the ocean are air conditioned??!! A few days across country in the 70s aren't going to do anything. Be patient and dream of enjoying these in your 70s!!

[DavidG]

I wouldn't worry either. Temps in the 80s and 90s can harm wine IMO, but It's unlikely the wine will sit in a hot truck all day. It will probably be in a warehouse with some climate control over the weekend.

Danny, most importers use refrigerated reefers.

[JimHow]

Where is it 80-90 degrees in the country this weekend?
Another ice storm up here, cars off the road and overturned everywhere. What a mess.

[DavidG]

Hawaii, not that MichaelP's wine is going there. We were supposed to be in HI this week but with flight cancellations would have only made it for 3-4 days. So we stayed home and enjoyed the single-digit temps. At least today it's just a heavy steady rain here and not snow or ice.

[Jay Winton]

I just received some partially frozen wine yesterday after I had told the retailer not to ship unless weather was ok. No worries as they will replace it and told me to keep what arrived. It's a young CA cab so probably ok anyway. Low 60s here today.

[Michael-P]

OK, so maybe I need to worry about freezing?

Anyway, if the wine looks OK this experience is getting more absurdly funny:

Yesterday (Fri) morning I called the wine shop and spoke to a guy there, telling him why they should not have shipped a 2-day shipment out on a Thursday and how it could be ruined by the heat. He said he didn't know anything about wine but since it sits in the heated store shelf like cans of beans it should be OK in a heated truck.

I had already emailed them yesterday (Fri) explaining everything (how they were idiots for shipping on a Thurs, how the wine could cook, etc) and they replied today (Sat) that I should try one bottle and if it was bad they would refund me for ONE bottle. I haven't asked what about the other bad 11 bottles!

Michael-P

[Claret]

OK, so maybe I need to worry about freezing?

I had already emailed them yesterday (Fri) explaining everything (how they were idiots for shipping on a Thurs, how the wine could cook, etc) and they replied today (Sat) that I should try one bottle and if it was bad they would refund me for ONE bottle. I haven't asked what about the other bad 11 bottles!

Michael-P

If one bottle is not good I would be insisting on a refund on the rest of the case or executing a cc chargeback for the whole lot. You paid for expedited shipping and you did not get expedited delivery due to their mistake.

A few years ago I bought some library bottles of 1990 German Riesling. When I inspected the bottles I noticed dead fruit flies floating in some of my overwise perfectly appearing bottles of Spatlese. It took several emails and phone conversations with an obnoxious retailer in NY on a speakerphone who wanted me to ship the bottles back to him at my expense for his inspection in exchange for a store credit if he found my bottles to be defective. It took the threat of an imminent charge back to finally get a refund on my questionable defective bottles.

[dstgolf]

Amen on the weather front. What a horrible winter this is turning out to be. Travellers nightmare these last couple of weeks.

We escaped Ottawa last night and drove to Montreal hoping to avert a weather disaster and felt pretty good about our decision when we awoke this am to freezing rain. Take shuttle to airport at 6am only to find they closed the airport at 6am so we sat until 1pm before finally getting a flight out to Dallas. Never in Dallas in my life until last BWE event and now less than 12 mts later waiting for connecting flight to Los Cabos. Should be there by 9:00pm tonight but at least a week out of cold/snow/freezing rain. No concern about wines being damaged in this weather and David don't kid yourself....all wine is not shipped in reefers! Maybe classified growths can aford the cost and I wonder but the majority of wines for every day drinking would be too costly to ship in reefers. I've seen palates of wine sitting on the docks in Buenos Aries shrink wrapped and no way being refrigerated in the hot sun!

[JimHow]

This weather has been unbelievable. I've seen worse single storms but I've never seen such consistent ice, snow and cold. The streets are ice rinks up here.

[Michael-P]

I for got to mention this entertaining line from one of their emails:

the wine is not going to get bad that's for sure and specially for these kind of highly rated wines.

Michael-P

[JimHow]

They've got some splainin to do.

[stefan]

Michael, you should tell us who the retailer is.

[Tom In DC]

Agree with Danny regarding refrigerated containers, and there's always the question of whether the refrigeration unit is turned on. Like "Removed from professional storage (where it was delivered earlier that morning!)" in an auction catalog, there's a difference between "shipped in refrigerated containers" and "shipped in operating refrigerated containers."

[DavidG]

Well, that might explain why Bordeaux tastes better in Europe than here in North America. I haven't seen any pushed corks, but it can get hot enough to do damage without pushing the cork.

[Michael-P]

Yeah! The 12 bottles arrived yesterday at the warehouse where I store my wine and today I asked the warehouse to open the box and inspect the bottles. They said they all look in perfect condition. Good news.

But is that the end of this entertaining (but painful for me!) story......?

Indeed not!

The wines they shipped were the wrong wines!
I had ordered 09 Gazin and they shipped 09 Lafleur Gazin.

ARRRGGGHHH!!!

Michael-P

[JCNorthway]

Hard to believe! Who in that shop does not know there is a difference?

[DavidG]

[stefan]

Unbelievable!

So tell us who the retailer is lest one of us accidentally tries to buy from him or her.

[Michael-P]

They responded with a free Fedex return shipment label, so at least they are taking back the wine I did not order. Hopefully they can get the Gazin this time.

They have some other good pricing, but I am very hesitant to order anything more until this is resolved.

I did not want to name them until they have a chance to cure the problem.

Michael-P