FAQ SHIPPING

Wine club members enjoy a single low cost shipping fee or $35 for every partial or full case (12 bottles) of wine via ground delivery anywhere in the contiguous United States..

This low-cost fixed shipping fee applies to normal wine club shipments as well as other wine shipments you may choose to make.

Check out our Recipe Page, order wines to match the dishes you intend to cook and have them delivered for one single low fee.

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As a wine club member if you have a problem with one of our wines just tell us and in your next club shipment you will find a free replacement.

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Each order is shipped in sturdy, shock absorbent wine shipping containers enclosed in a cardboard box, all manufactured as recycled, environmentally friendly packaging.

We’re thrilled to use a sustainable alternative to expandable polystyrene (EPS) foam packaging that offers superior temperature control for your wine using 97% renewable corrugated board, exceeding the performance of EPS foam while greatly reducing the environmental impact, for example, compared to EPS Foam, per 1,000 packages our solution provides:

• 74% reduction in net greenhouse gas emissions.
• 82% reduction in water consumption.
• 63% reduction in cumulative energy demand.
• 51% reduction in fossil fuel emissions.
• 69% reduction in solid waste.

This alternative to foam is engineered to keep your wine safe, help save the environment and allow for convenience disposal once it's journey is complete.

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Regular shipments come in February, May, October and December.

Club shipments have traditionally been designed around holidays to avoid months of extreme climate so in places like Miami, Houston or Phoenix in summer or places like Duluth or Green Bay in winter we provide alternate "Extreme Climate" shipping in the more mild months of April and November.

Alternatively you can design your own special shipment schedule, e.g., Summer home/Winter home.

We do maintain a weather watch so shipments may be slightly delayed in areas suffering unusually extreme weather conditions.

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We do not distribute our wines or sell them through brokers, wine shops or restaurants. Our wines are only available through our regular wine club shipments, or you can order individual wines via this web site.

Our limited production of wines places us in the "boutique winery" category. This allows us to ship wine directly to the consumer in many U.S. states where many other wineries cannot because they have prior commitments with local liquor distributors or are too large to permit shipping direct-to-consumer.

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As an alternative to shipping, you may elect to pick up your wines at one of our "pickup parties" or simply come by one of our convenient tasting locations and enjoy a glass of wine while collecting your quarterly allocation.

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For Wine Club shipments you may opt for our “Extreme Climates” option where instead of shipping four times each year we only ship in April and November.

Alternatively, we will ship wine to any UPS Store within the United States where it is legal to do so. You simply register with a UPS store convenient to you and they will receive and hold your wine package in an air conditioned environment for you to collect at your leisure.

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If you want wines shipped in summer we will include “cool packs” and ship either via overnight air or our weekly temperature controlled trucks to ensure your wines arrive safely.

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Delivery of alcohol requires an adult signature. If you can't be home to sign for it we can ship it to your account at a local UPS store where your wine arrives safe and secure and waits in a wine-friendly, air-conditioned office for you to collect it whenever convenient.

We can ship wine to any UPS Store within the United States where it is legal to do so. You simply register with a UPS store convenient to you and they will receive and hold your wine package for you to collect at your leisure.

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We ship to all states where it is legal for us to do so. Sometimes a state's law may have recently changed allowing wine shipments under special conditions so we suggest you contact us via email or phone 707-433-1500 so we can assist.

Alternatively, we will ship wine to any UPS Store within the United States where it is legal to do so.

You simply register with a UPS store convenient to you and they will receive and hold your wine package in an air conditioned environment for you to collect at your leisure.

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Other wineries say they can't ship to my state - how can you?

We are licensed to ship wine to virtually every state. When distributors represent a winery in a state their contracts usually prevent the winery from selling direct to consumers in that state. We do not use distributors so we have no such limitation.

We faithfully collect and pay applicable taxes in your state so, in effect, when you receive our wines at home you are "buying local" and supporting your community.

Over the past twenty+ years we have developed shipping strategies to tackle everything from confusing regulations to unpredictable weather. Your wine arrives in great condition and is backed by our "satisfaction or replace" policy

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As part of processing your order we engage a carrier such as UPS or FedEx to deliver it to you. When your package is picked up the carrier allocates it a “tracking number” to identify and trace your shipment as it moves through their system to your destination.

When your “tracking number” is allocated by the carrier we send you an e-mail notification. By clicking on the “tracking number” in the email it will take you to the carrier’s web site and automatically tell you where your package is currently and when they estimate you can expect delivery. Carriers generally are unable to specify an exact delivery time but typically deliveries occur during normal business hours.

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If you move, simply notify us of your new address by contacting us via phone or email or simply update your account on-line prior to your move by clicking on any of the options below:.

Contacting us ahead of time will prevent missed shipments or shipping charges incurred due to misdirected wines.

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We are licensed to sell and deliver alcoholic beverages within the United States to persons who are at least 21 years old.

IN PLACING YOUR ORDER YOU REPRESENT TO US THAT YOU ARE AT LEAST 21 YEARS OLD AND THAT THE PERSON TO WHOM YOU ARE DIRECTING DELIVERY IS AT LEAST 21 YEARS OLD.

The buyer is solely responsible for shipment of their own alcoholic beverage products. By placing an order, you authorize us to act on your behalf to engage a common carrier such as FedEx, UPS or Golden State to deliver your order to you. When your wine is delivered the person receiving delivery should be able to show identification proving they are at least 21 years old.

ONCE REMOVED, WINE CANNOT BE RETURNED TO INVENTORY, CONSEQUENTLY ALL SALES ARE FINAL AND ARE NOT SUBJECT TO FURTHER NEGOTIATION OR ARBITRARY CANCELLATION.

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As the purchaser you are responsible for any tax due. For shipments within the State of California and certain other states, we automatically collect and pay the sales taxes due. Any failure on our part relating to a federal or state tax issue however, cannot be used for the purpose of avoiding any tax or related penalties that may be imposed under any applicable state tax code or Internal Revenue Code.

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We are able to ship our wines throughout summer and in extreme winter weather. For California, Arizona and Nevada we include ice packs and deliver the next day, via courier service. For other states we ship our wines in temperature controlled trucks through air conditioned distribution centers.

We email you with a tracking number when the wines leave our warehouse. They are transported by ground across country to one of four gateway warehouses located in Houston, TX; Jacksonville, FL; Chicago, IL and New York, NY.

At the gateway warehouse, the packages are cross-docked to another truck and transported to the UPS or FedEx distribution center nearest to you. Up to this stage, the wines have constantly been in a temperature controlled environment. From the distribution center they are dispatched for delivery to you via a normal UPS or FedEx delivery vehicle. This method has significant benefits, namely:

• You are able to order and receive wines, even in summer.
• We are able to maintain regular ground shipping costs - approximately half that of shipping via air.
• The wines are maintained in a temperature controlled environment throughout their journey.
• The package goes through significantly less manual steps reducing the opportunity for breakage.

While the truck is traveling across country there will be no updates to the tracking information for the first five to seven days of the truck's journey. Immediately prior to delivery the local UPS/FedEx distribution center will provide tracking updates so you will know exactly when to expect delivery.

We are working with our shipping partners and expect to be able to provide more extensive tracking information on future deliveries. In the meantime please feel free to call 707-433-1500 or email us regarding your delivery.

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Once a wine leaves our inventory control it cannot be brought back for resale because we cannot guarantee it was handled correctly while it was out of our control.

When wine is shipped to a customer and returned due to non-delivery we return that wine to a "pouring inventory" within our tasting room.

When the tasting room staff open a bottle of wine for pouring they first taste it to ensure it has no defects.

This process, while costly, ensures that every bottle of our wine is perfect when our club member opens it at dinner. At the same time it maintains our legal requirement to retain control over our alcohol products and reduces the potential of excessive waste.

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