I ordered 3 magnums from Morrell Wine’s (NYC) recent magnum sale on 11/13 and had them shipped to my office in Hartford, CT. I just picked them up and the 3 bottles clearly have temperature damage, with all 3 corks having pushed through the wax capsules (see pics) with seepage down the exterior sides of the bottles. I plan to call them tomorrow - should I ask for replacement or refund (if replacement is not possible)?
This is my first time dealing with shipping damage so I am looking for advice. I had planned to gift one of these bottles (to my parents) and open the other two at Christmas dinner. I could drink them (but not clear on the impact on the wine of the damage - likely cold damage) and can’t really gift one in this condition.
Call & see if they insured the package. Can’t imagine they didn’t. E-mail them the picture & ask them to replace the bottles. If you paid for shipping already & they want the bottles back, ask for a label. See if you can meet in the middle to arrange express shipping on the replacement bottles.
Most of all, be polite & cool. Explain these were a combo of gifts & Christmas dinner wines.
Assuming this was recent, it can’t be heat damage, right? It not, then they partially froze along the way. Freezing is actually quite an acceptable way to preserve wine, and does no damage (other than possibly accelerating the precipitation of some tartrate crystals, which won’t affect the taste of the wine in any significant way). I wouldn’t hesitate to serve at a group function in the near term. As for gifting, sure, you can ask for a replacement. Or you could just scrape off the wax, and say these mags don’t come with capsules. Damage to a mag is twice as likely as to a 750, since there is twice as much liquid in the bottle, but probably similar ullage.
If the above still seems unacceptable to you, you would be perfectly in the right to ask for an exchange or refund, assuming they shipped without your approval during cold weather.
If anything, wouldn’t it be less common since the force acting upon the wine (heat, cold, oxygen through damaged cork) would have to have longer exposure to make an appreciable difference on the wine?
Short term, I think you’re right. But assuming it did freeze, at least partially, I was only pointing out that the volume expansion of the wine is twice as much, while the cork and ullage are likely to be the same as for a 760.
David,
You said these were shipped from NYC to CT, that’s next door!! How long did it take for delivery, were they in styro? It doesn’t make much sense unless somehow the package was shipped during a polar vortex, sat around for a day or two outside, plus it takes a whole lot of pressure and
inclement temps to push a cork through wax and they couldn’t have traveled long enough from NYC to CT for that to happen. It really makes no sense and I’m saying that from 14 years of shipping experience. Very strange!
Carrie, I agree with everything you said except for the ‘it takes a whole lot of pressure… to push thru wax’. Once a liquid reaches the freezing point, it expands dramatically. Since the pressure has no where to go except by pushing the cork out, it really doesn’t take much at all. Think hydraulic lifts, pallet jacks, etc. the liquid doesn’t compress, and the bottle doesn’t expand. Voila!
I’ve had two shipments with frozen wines, corks burst through the capsules, etc., but they both came across the country during bitter cold temps and, in one case, the box was left outside overnight (in spite of warning labels) during a sub-zero spell. NY to CT? I’m as curious as Carrie, but the OP did say that the order was placed a month ago and he just picked it up.
Yes, this is most definitely strange, as temps locally in the Northeast have not been severe, unless you count in that cold spell we had about 2 weeks ago. But, they sure do look like yummy popsicles. What is the delivery time on these? 1 day-1 night, at most 2 days-2 nights? They must have been sitting outside somewhere during an extended time. Perhaps there was a broken freezer unit? But regardless, they ought to be either replaced or refunded.
Where were they stored at your office? Seeing that it has been a month since you purchased them what is the chance that they were damaged after the fact?
I would have to dig into my deleted items to find the shipping info but these were shipped in mid-November to a business address which was an office suite on the 21st floor of a professional office building. Packages are received directly from shippers in our office suite at reception on that floor; they are not received elsewhere in the building first as we only have that one suite. Once received they have remained in a storage room in that suite and I am certain that temps in the suite never reached anything close to freezing. Damage simply must have been sustained during shipping. They went from NYC to Hartford, CT and it must have taken less than two days.
It is interesting to note that moving from left to right, the amount that the cork has exited the bottle increases like a flight of stairs. These three bottles were packed left to right in three mag boxes taped together. My guess would be that they sat in a fed ex truck overnight in NY or CT with the rightmost bottle up against the wall of the truck and the leftmost bottle closer to the interior. As temps dropped they froze in order from right to left.
I called Morrell Wine and the guy that deals with web orders is in on Monday. I emailed him a pic with an explanation. I will see how he replies.
The wine may not have been shipped from New York City. Many NYC retailers have warehouses in New Jersey so that’s where the shipment may have originated. But that’s still not very far from Hartford CT.
