This is why I return so many bottles a year to the wine shops and now are starting to contact the wineries if the wine is flawed in anyway. I am not going to eat $50 for a bottle whether it is corked or heat damaged. The more consumers that return flawed bottles the more improvements will be made. One of the big wine shops in Minneapolis has their delivery trucks out all summer deliverying to businesses and homes. The sad part is most consumers will have no idea if the wine is cooked or just not to their liking.
The small French importer/distributor I worked for loaded their vans the night before and kept their loaded vans (Ford Econolines which are pretty small) in the temperature controlled warehouse then delivered the wine in the air conditioned van. The wines were quite good and in many cases great so temperature control was taken very seriously. Air conditioned vans might not sound perfect but the AC can cool the whole van and the deliveries would go pretty quickly. IMO this seems to be good temperature control. If we were using trucks instead of vans then I think refrigeration would be appropriate handling. If produce vendors can afford refrigerated trucks then wine distributors ought to be able to afford them.
I agree with everything you said, Justin; wines loaded from a cool warehouse then driven around in an air conditioned van would be fine, IMO. Larger loads can go in a refrigerated truck, like the produce you mention.
In Atlanta last week at a restaurant account, a truck from one of the larger distributors pulls up to the restaurant I was calling on, and starts unloading the 3 cases of mixed wine from his non-regrigerated truck.
-3:30pm
-Well over 90 degrees
So must have been at least 100 inside the truck.
See it all the time.
I worked for RNDC in Atlanta before I moved out west. We were up to about 75% refer in the fleet when I left, so for a big house it was headed in the right direction. It was terribly frustrating from the sales end to sell to an account in the summer time and have shipping issues due to temperature. In Atlanta, 2 of the 5 major wine/spirits distributors have refrigerated trucks in their fleet. All of the specialty wine distributors from Quality on down have refer trucks.
Since I’ve moved to CA, I routinely see Young’s Market, Wine Warehouse and Southern trucks going up and down the 101 without refrigeration units.
I appreciate everyone’s response, but, really, I’m almost sorry I asked. I honestly thought that there would have been more progress on this front.
I want to talk about online retailers that won’t hold wine in proper temps until the summer passes. I recently tried to order wines from halfwitwines.com and I received an email that they “can’t” hold the wine until the summer and heat passes. They have some pretty SERIOUS half bottles (2001 d’Yquem comes to mind) and a HUGE selection…but the ONLY time of the year I’d order from them would be the fall or winter. It was a HUGE let down. I just don’t think I could ever order from them after something like this…
I don’t even trust a lot of warehouses. I’ve had wines from a few vintages back that should really be FINE if they hadn’t been exposed to some pretty serious heat (I know from opening such bottles that have been in a store for several years where I know the temperature isn’t kept in a range with which I’d be totally comfortable and having them be fine), and most (maybe all) of those bottles have been completely shot. I have trouble distinguishing between heat damage and oxidation, but these were undrinkable wines that, if held properly, would have had plenty of life left in them. I’ve seen a distributor with a warehouse that isn’t even air conditioned. It stays somewhat cool in the summer, but the wines 12 feet up don’t stay cool enough. One sales rep recently told me that their warehouse is “climate controlled”, and after further conversation I found out that it’s partially below ground, but has no cooling system! What the heck kind of climate control is that? It’s really disgusting how unaware, greedy, or both so many people are who are responsible for caring for so much great wine (and there is great, very ageworthy wine in both warehouses I’ve mentioned).
I agree with the previous comment that people should return heat damaged wine, but I think the real problem is that the wine is likely not to show any problems until you tuck it away in the cellar for some years. Wine is really tough, more than a lot of us think, and can show well young, and even young-ish, after some pretty serious abuse. I’ve seen it many times. I am sure that after 10+ years, similarly handled wine will not have fared so well, even if it was stored well after a period of initial mistreatment. There’s also the question of how much wine is not obviously damaged, but doesn’t show up to its true potential. I think, sadly, that a large percentage of all the wine sold is in this category.