Buying Wine Online during Summer

Do you avoid purchasing wine over the interwebs during the summer/warmer months? I know some wineries/retailers offer refrigerated delivery (thanks Larry), and some offered delayed shipping, but I wanted to see if you hold off on purchases otherwise. I live in South Florida so weather is a concern. But deals are hard to turn down sometimes

Buy from trusted sources. I have 1-2 that I buy from without hesitation. They know not to ship until cooler weather.

I was about to add a post regarding this very same topic.

I belong to a wine club in Atlanta and purchase most of my wine from them, however I’ve recently dipped my toe into the Northern Rhone and buying from various sources around the country. Thus far most shipments have been in non-styrofoam cardboard containers that will not defend well against heat. We’re about to enter Spring weather conditions that easily reach into the 80’s and I’m afraid to have something shipped knowing the wine will be sitting on UPS or Fed-Ex trucks. I know those trucks can be 15-20 degrees warmer than the outside air temperature.

I just have shippers hold for appropriate weather. Sometimes that means waiting many months to ship. If you’re in a hurry than you probably have to look at overnight shipping.

The only wine I will buy online over the summer is from Winebid and I will have them hold it until the Fall.

My pending shipment list on Cellartracker is at 178 bottles and that is way down from the Spring shipping already. I’m expecting another 44 bottles in spring but most of the rest aren’t coming 'til next Fall. I’m sure come next fall I’ll have found another 100 bottles that will have to wait 'til Spring.

This. I buy mainly from Envoyer but occasionally HDH and JJB plus a few random retailers. The all hold until cooler weather.

The good retailers/ wineries don’t ship in the summer. I just had a place hold since it was warm earlier in the week in Cali. These places are rare but that is why they have so many wine geeks buying from them.

Evan - I have a home in south florida too, and have recently begun having my wine shipments delivered there (with the intention of moving the rest of my cellar from NJ later this year). It’s a totally different and tricky thing getting wine to florida - much shorter window, especially with ground shipping. In NJ, I am usually able to safely accept deliveries for several months both in the fall and spring, but in florida, it was much more limited. I have found that some wineries offer cold chain Fed ex deliveries (like Dirty & Rowdy) - so that is an option for you too. Otherwise, I have asked wineries and retailers to hold until cooler weather.

I buy year round and hold until weather is good to go. Almost any real wine operation holds during summer months.
Again how do these wine clubs operate that ship a box of wine a month. I know the people that order from them know little about wine but how can they ship when it is 100 degrees?

I’m in PA just had Realm call me about an order i placed while visiting them. They said they wouldn’t suggest ground shipping at this time since it goes through Arizona to get here (makes no sense to me but ok). They suggested I do fed-ex 2 day air which will stay away from the warmer areas since it’s cool here still.

It got me thinking… so I called the shipping company I had some other bottles I bought consolidated and shipped from and they said their ground goes through Arizona as well. I had ordered cold packs and Styrofoam but across the country though Airzona which is very hot right now I figured it’s still not a great idea. I know a Styrofoam cooler with ice only lasts a few hours in the summer before all the ice is melted. I changed that to 2 day air as well. A decent price difference but I figured it was the safer bet and worth the extra expense.

most retailers will hold. I enjoy watching the rising number in “pending delivery” on cellartracker.

We had a heat spike here in Los Angeles last week; got up into the 90’s in early April!

Good wineries/retailers watch the weather like a hawk. Others ship out whenever.

Bruce

I just had my Myriad order ship to me in Fort Lauderdale via fedex ground. It shipped last week and arrived at my office today. Been mid 80s here for a week.

I requested it wait until weather appropriate. I was shocked they shipped it.

JJB shipped a case to my parents in December and it got caught in a blizzard; they don’t automatically hold (as I assumed they would). The wine was ruined, although to their credit, they replaced it.

Yeah most hold until fall without any charges, but FedEx recently unveiled their Cold-Chain system for summers specifically suited for wine shipping. It probably equates to the expense of 3-day or 2-day air, but it’s nice to have the option in the event you want your wines a little more urgently. I’d inquire about that anywhere you shop to see if they do it.

I think it is mostly for wineries in Nor and So. Cal, but many retailers are on board that are based there.

Turley uses cold chain free of additional charge.

I’m just utterly baffled that Myriad shipped my order via ground in mid 80 temps. I have no problem waiting months to receive an order, as ensuring that the wine arrives without issue is much more important to me than quick shipping.

I wonder if I should advise them of the above issue, just in case the wine tastes cooked or heat damaged when I actually open them in a few years.

sounds like everyone already said what I was going to. Buy now and good retailers hold it for you. I have the most experience with JJBuckley and they will store indefinitely (technically, each bottle purchase also buys you 6 months of free storage for a single bottle, which can be transferred to another bottle if shipped before then). If you absolutely have to have something in the summer when you buy it, I have lucked out with a few bottles that got shipped 2 day with a cooler pack in the box, but I wouldn’t recommend it.

My buddys Kosta Brown shipment got locked in a UPS truck in their facility’s parking lot over Easter weekend when we had an 80 degree spike here in SC, luckily Kosta was really good about it and just had it shipped back and replaced.

my buying patterns aren’t impacted by seasonality.

had a strange experience recently. purchased some wine on the west coast in jan and contacted the merchant several times in march when i was beginning to receive other shipments and the weather looked good. their response was the weather was still not optimal, they wanted to wait, etc. now they finally decided to ship out the order this past tuesday which is bizarre because it will sit somewhere over the weekend.