I’m exploring the possibility of organizing a shared, temperature-controlled wine shipment from Oregon to DC, leveraging an existing logistics setup. My goal is to help local enthusiasts access wines from small Oregon producers more affordably; spend more in wines and less in shipping.
We currently have semi-annual shipments planned for September and March. The next available slot would be March 2026, which aligns with BD17 orders.
Here’s the idea:
Northwest Wine Distribution and Storage (NWDS) consolidates individual cases from various Oregon wineries into full pallets. A full pallet holds 56 cases. If we can put together a pallet, I estimate the shipping cost would be around $1,000 per pallet from Oregon to DC. This means the break-even point to make this worthwhile is roughly 20 cases per pallet, at an estimated cost of $50-70 per case for individual shipping. If we fully utilize the pallet, the cost will be $18/case. We will split the pallet shipping cost proportionally later.
How it works & Pickup:
NWDS consolidates cases and ships the pallet(s).
The pallet will be received at UOVO (NW DC).
No door-to-door delivery.
If you have a locker at UOVO, we can arrange for your wines to be deposited there.
Otherwise, we will coordinate pickups from my home/business in NW DC or any volunteers.
Wineries & Scope:
Currently, the retailer I assist regularly purchases from Six Cloves, Shiba Wichern, Goodfellow, Violin, and Perkins Harter. I’ve also added personal cases from PGC to our next pallet.
For this shared shipment, we will limit the scope to Oregon winemakers who accept NWDS pickup and have their wines available by early March (I assume many Oregon winemakers already work with NWDS) and Six Cloves (as we already have a relationship there). The purchase unit is a full case per each seller – you cannot create a mixed case of different producers through this system. However, feel free to coordinate in this thread to share a case with another Berserker.
Benefits:
Temperature-controlled transport from Oregon to DC.
Reduced packaging materials, leading to less waste.
Lower shipping cost - depending on the number of cases could be as low as $18/case.
Are you interested in participating in a March 2026 shipment? Please post below if this is something you’d utilize, and feel free to ask any questions. We’re trying to gauge interest to see if we can make a pallet (or two?) happen for the DMV community.
Sounds great — I know all the Oregon producers I buy from are taking a hit to ship for anything less than $60 per case too. Would be great to save everyone money in the process.
Let’s figure out about the numbers; if we are relatively confident to have 20+ cases we can start planning. It is not only about the BD17 purchases, but also we can consolidate wines we buy anytime from now by the end of Feb.
@Dan_Sch, @MarkTa_czak, and anyone interested: do you have a casual guess about case count you’d buy from Oregon (and Six Cloves) from now through BD17?
One additional benefit would be your spouse not knowing how many cases you order. For some this helps?
Thanks both, let’s see if other Berserkers are interested. My cases are usually added to the first pallet (for the business) so they probably don’t count toward the number for the second pallet.
Yeah, I sell Japanese bluefin tuna for both wholesale and retail. My business is hosted by an Asian grocery shop that carries Oregon wines. So if the pallet sharing idea materializes, the 14st shop is a pickup option.
Looks like the demand is not enough to make a pallet on our own. But we can accommodate your ~5 cases in the Rice Market pallet if you are still interested. Probably the cost per case will be ~$22.
I’m in the DC area too (stopped by Rice Market to pick up some fish a few weekends ago actually!), and I think I have 1 case of Goodfellow from the Fall release as well. Do you guys have room to add one more?
BD 17 is approaching! We have a scheduled pallet transportation from Oregon (and a few cases picked up from Six Cloves). Please let me know if you’d like to add your case to our pallet. The ETA is toward the end of March.
One update: Rice Market has been struggling in sales and the total shipment may come under a full pallet (56 cases) and the cost per case may be slightly above what we discussed (could be ~$25).
