How often does that happen?
On Thursday, my Lauber rep (part of Southern Wines and Spirits now, who I despise), offered me a case of 2005 Lafite at a fair price. I took it and asked for Monday delivery (we do not accept Fridays as the trucks are too full with other stores/restaurants who donotplan accordingly). Mondays are empty and I get all of my deliveries before 12 pm.
Lauber used to have refrigerated trucks BEFORE Southern bought them. Now they are just part of that awful empire of antiquated liquor sales. Talk about going backwards…they eliminated temp controlled trucks in favor of regular trucks. I do no business with Southern except with my Lauber and Liberty reps (my relationships predate the sale).
My rep asked me to take it on Friday since it was the last case (most fine wine houses can hold your stock for weeks, never mind hours, but not with Southern). Case arrived at 7 pm (it was only low 70s) but it was the WRONG case. They delivered 2005 Ch Rthschild Reserve or something like that (I was gone by then) but we refused it.
It hasn’t happened all that much in the past I’m happy to say, but when it’s hot out I do open boxes and feel bottles. If I wouldn’t buy it, I don’t accept it.
I’m have my second shipment from Italy coming sometime next month and when I asked for pricing the quote seemed low. I was told I didn’t need refrigerated trucks from the winery to the docks. In early June? Are you kidding me? We control the entire process from picking up the wine in refrigerated trucks and loading pallets onto refrigerated containers. The additional cost is partially made up in marketing samples and partially borne by us. The wines arrive in great shape and I don’t have to create another possible issue for myself.
As I posted in another thread, I used to work for Epic Wine Distributors in Southern California (http://www.epic-wines.com" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;) and we used to gripe how if we reps needed something to get to our accounts how we had to work around the schedule of the refrigerated trucks which delivered our wares, else we needed to trek to the refrigerated warehouse and deliver it ourselves.
While I knew it to be the right thing then, I wish more of the bottles I purchase at retail today were delivered with such care. ![[berserker.gif]](/uploads/db3686/original/2X/8/8600bbd4810d342b8fbd4ffb62b4f0026275fd37.gif "berserker"){kind=small}
We consumers have to bear responsibility as the rot starts from the top. 
Since we get seduced by the label and take chances on bottles, the trade takes chances, naturally.
These days I mainly buy from retailers who systematically ensure end-to-end temperature control, like Moore Brothers, Garagiste, Princeton Corkscrew, etc.
Karl
I don’t know. The wholesalers who don’t use refers clearly don’t care. Second, the wineries that allow this clearly don’t care. In some states, with some wholesalers, you don’t have a choice. I can only buy KJ from one wholesaler. So, if I want it, and it is an necessary evil, I have to buy it from a company that does not have refrigerated trucks.
Further, most retailers won’t ship to Indiana so someone in Indiana (and other states) doesn’t really have a choice. We don’t have the luxury of using out of state retailers. I am surprised that Parker/Tanzer/WS haven’t take up this issue. The wholesale market, at least in the three tier system, is a monopoly and they aren’t going to change without a fight.
John