If you happen to live in a part of the world that gets quite a bit of heat in the summer, you have learned to delay wine club shipments and wine deliveries of all kinds until the heat is lessened. I’ve tried the two-day air thing once, and though my wine did arrive in good condition, I wasn’t comfortable with it.
Obviously liquor stores and fine restaurants continue to fill their cellars as needed, summertime or not, but their wines hopefully arrive in a refrigerated truck and not via the normal UPS, FedEx and other delivery services that may use non-air conditioned trucks with your wine packed in Styrofoam alone. But I don’t order nearly as much as they do! (Note on FedEx: they are the only ones I know that will attempt a delivery more than once before holding at one of their centers or sending back. That means a lot more time in the heat for your coveted wine.)
What I tend to do is fill my cellar with enough whites and pinks in advance of the summer, getting club shipments sent earlier sometimes does the trick. But, still doesn’t solve the problem of getting the wine when more is needed during the heat of the summer. Do you just trust that the wines you buy from supermarkets, liquor stores and wine bar shelves – that are not all kept in a chilled atmosphere – will be good enough?
So, it’s definitely a conundrum. So, knowing me, do you know what I did next? I asked people on social media and in my Eve Wine 101 Facebook group how they handle it. (Some remarks were the surprise in finding out that heat could damage wine!) Here are some of your answers:
Lauren G: Well, heck, I just learned something new!
Diane G: I used to have it delivered, but when GSO used to deliver in private vans to my workplace, it arrived HOT. Even though it was supposed to be guaranteed to be refrigerated. Now I have them hold it.
Gail L: I didn’t know this. I learned something new today. Thanks for the info.
Jenny K: Do not have current wine club, but when I did, I let them decide when they feel it’s safe to send it; like you, I turn to the wine shops if I am in need of something.
Find Fine Wine: Two-day air. Temperature controlled shipping. Ice packs also help. I’ve had all these. Execution needs to be clearly worked out and understood. Also a lot of folks will hold orders until fall. (And) they’ve got a new kind (of ice pack). Often they don’t make it all the way intact but provide relief for a portion of the trip which is often enough to ease the distress on the wine. Best of luck, cheers!
Kai H: I have canceled all mine, too much wine on hand right now, but I noticed one local winery wouldn’t ship again until October!
Donny T: I’m asking this question about my medications being delivered to my mailbox, which inside probably is at least 160 degrees.
Steve R: I usually have them hold the purchase until fall, and have them ship when the weather is cooler. I’ve had wine delivered here in Las Vegas via “Cold Shipment” and the bottles were ruined. If you truly want to receive a shipment here in Las Vegas then have them “Cold Ship” to a FedEx pickup location and go get it yourself. If you have it delivered to your home then the wine sits on the delivery truck all day and the ice packs melt; thus, the wine gets ruined. I once had a shipment from a prestigious, Napa Valley winery whom insisted that having the wine shipped via cold shipment would be perfectly safe, and when the wine was delivered, the corks were peeking halfway out of the bottle as it had gotten that hot. So the wine got so hot that it pushed the corks up halfway out of the bottles. Summer here in Las Vegas is not to be played with!
Jennifer M: Some places will pack with ice, so if it’s May ill let them ship with ice packs. Usually though I have them ship no later than April or wait until October. During the summer, the wine shops get a lot of our business.
Bob B: Drink whisky! It’s less high maintenance.
Shauna C: All of our memberships are close enough to pick up and one drops off directly when we are home.
Linda O: Many times you request cold packs in your shipment. It may be an extra charge though.
Jenny W: I live in Palm Desert where temps can get triple digit and have had no issues. My wine club offers ice packs and insulated boxes, as well as temperature control shipping. If any wine is not good, free replacement. In 5 years I have had only one bottle with problems.
Dawn P: I have them shipped to my office so they don’t sit out at all.
Cathy M: Of the 3 wine membership clubs we belong to, none of them ship in the hot summer months. IF I ever ran out of wine, (god forbid) I would go to my local Ralphs. They have a refrigerated wine section for high-end wines. Even during the peak summer heat, off the shelf wines would be a relativity good choice. They keep those types of stores very cool. My next choice would be boutique wine store followed by a big box wine store. Very last choice would be a liquor store. My reasoning is…as the name implies liquor, hard liquor with no expiration dates. Wine NEEDS to be rotated. I can’t imagine a liquor store clerk having the knowledge to rotate the wine. The beer delivery guys take care of their section in a liquor store. Its always fresh and it moves quickly. Cheers
Sam H: Wineries I do business with all say “weather permitting” for the shipment dates. Wine ships in April and late October, so it’s not really an issue. Saxum Vineyards attaches a temperature tag to one bottle, so you can see if the wine got hot during shipping. A couple of times wineries have added a small ice pack. Everything ships to a UPS Store in Mesquite NV. The store is air conditioned, so a couple of days at the store is no big deal.
Conclusion: Draw your own. Looks like no matter what you decide to try it’s guesswork, now at least you are making an educated guess.
Eve Bushman has a Level Two Intermediate Certification from the Wine and Spirits Education Trust (WSET), a “certification in the first globally-recognized course” as an American Wine Specialist ® from the North American Sommelier Association (NASA), Level 1 Sake Award from WSET, was the subject of a 60-minute Wine Immersion video (over 16k views), authored “Wine Etiquette for Everyone” and has served as a judge for the Proof Awards, Cellarmasters, LA Wine Competition, Long Beach Grand Cru and the Global Wine Awards. You can email Eve@EveWine101.com to ask a question about wine or spirits
