Question for retailers about summer deliveries.

With all these years of discussing the care needed to keep wine happy, is refrigerated shipment from wholesalers/distributors during the warmer months now the norm rather than the exception, or have you at least noticed an increase in refrigerated deliveries? What’s been your experience?

[When I was buying for a restaurant, more than a decade ago, only one of our wine distributor (Fran Kysela) used air-conditioned trucks during the summer, as far as I remember.

Of course, the lettuce, meats and seafood, milk, etc…, from a variety of vendors arrived cool and correct.]

It still seems to be the exception around here, and definitely is in Maine, where I used to work. I always check the temperature of bottles as they arrive on hot days, and I haven’t found a problem yet, but I wouldn’t like to be receiving wines destined for long-term cellaring in those conditions. If we’re ever buying wines like that, though, special arrangements can be made. It’s too bad that it has to be that way.

Some of our deliveries are in temp controlled trucks, others are not. We recently had an experience with a delivery that the driver didn’t get here until mid afternoon on one of our hotter days in a non-air conditioned truck. I didn’t have time to examine the wine at the time, when I did there were a few of the capsules starting to push up and the case was delivered in a box that looked like it had been in a floor stack, the whole top of the box was cut off and the bottles were exposed to the shoulder. Needless to say I’ve asked for the wine to be picked up for credit.
I’ve also informed the company I won’t be ordering from them until it cools down.

Exception. What’s sad is the two big ‘union’ shops in NY, Southern & Empire/Charmer, have the worst temp control. Many of the ‘little guys,’ the smaller boutique importers & distributors work with a general consolidator/shipper who always has temp controlled storage/trucking throughout the summer months. There are at least two or three of those.

See also Dan Posner’s rants in this regard.

Brent, this was definitely one of the bigger guys … I wrote a big long complaint letter but I’m sure it will fall on deaf ears, it’s all about $$$ but what I don’t understand is they carry some of the top end expensive wines and some older vintages. It doesn’t take much to ruin an older wine sitting in a hot truck all day, I won’t be ordering any of them at all, NEVER.

Please, Brent. Not Dan, Daniel. [snort.gif]

Carrie - Was this Wine Warehouse?

Richard,
No, it was So. Wine & Spirits, even the driver commented that the capsules of the bottles were to hot to touch and they’ve had complaints from other accts about bottles showing up hot…

Please, when you send me my next case, make sure if has cold wine and PICTURES of HOT chicks!

:slight_smile:

No wait, my wife may open it first…no pictures.

Okay, from the responses so far, little if anything has changed.

Depressing, and the only conclusion I can draw is that too many distributors (among other violators) are either willfully ignorant of the need to keep wine cool (really, how can they not know?), or calculatingly cynical, since cooked wine won’t be as immediately obvious as wilted lettuce or stinking fish so they’ll usually get away with it.

[I’m glad no one’s tried to float that entirely bogus industry apologist argument that customers wouldn’t accept the increase in prices that would follow investments in careful storage and shipping… blah blah blah. Every day I drive by refrigerated trucks carrying all sorts of relatively inexpensive goods to stores around the region. Freaking fresh pizza dough gets refrigerated shipment, for crying out loud!]

Not surprising. I mainly buy spirits from them so it isn’t a big issue, but given that Southern is insanely profitable you’ve got to wonder why one of their major suppliers (e.g., Diageo) doesn’t apply some pressure re: refrigerated trucks.

I guess they’re worried that they might suffer a temporary drop from insanely profitable to merely wildly profitable.

I doubt they’d listen to much of anyone unless it cut into their bottom line but they aren’t the only ones we deal with on delivery issues. I ask every distributor this time of year if they have temp controlled vehicles, if they don’t I tell them if they can’t guarantee early delivery when it’s hot then keep the wine.

You mistakenly believe that Diageo gives a shit.

I’m obsessive about temperature; just one of myriad reasons I prefer DTT sales. Any of you have experience with DTT deliveries by GSO?

I’m wanting to ship from AmCyn to Phoenix (where it’s road-hot 24/7). GSO is selling me on reefer-truck pickup at warehouse, temp-controlled truck to hub in Visalia where warehouse is A/C’d, then temp-controlled truck overnight to Phoenix. I’m thinking about stuffing a little digital thermometer in that first box and see what she reads for high-lo temps over the journey.

“Slightly-cooked” wine is a nightmare if you ask me --only someone who knows the wine well (i.e., me) can distinguish. Risk is buyers/customers just think, “eh, not as fresh, layered, interesting as I remember it.” But there’s no OBVIOUS red cork, etc.

Emily,
The problem with GSO is they transport the wine from pickup point in temp controlled vehicles to the destination hub but from that point they deliver to the customer in a regular delivery vehicle and not temp controlled. I was originally under the impression that is was delivered the same way as transported, then I asked my GSO rep and he told me no it is not. In 90 to over 100 degrees there is still a chance for heat damage if the wine sits in the truck very long and GSO does later day deliveries if you don’t request A.M.
We use them if the customer absolutely has to have the wine, we pack with ice packs, thermal insulated wrap and schedule for the earliest delivery time.

Yes - I just got a package via GSO/DTT on Friday. I received an email notification on Wednesday saying the shipment had been picked up from the sender, but it didn’t actually arrive until Friday at about 4:45 and it clearly hadn’t been in a temperature controlled truck.

We have a few wholesalers that ship in refrigerated trucks. But, they are the small, independent (somewhat specialty) wholesalers. The big ones do not ship in refers. Last week it was over 100 degrees in Indiana.

+1

So, any distributor’s reps want to chime in on shipping practices at their employers?