Something to think about

[twoijack]

Hello All!
This may sound silly but I always wondered how they handled the shipments for that case of expensive wines you bought from your local wine store now sitting nicely in your temperature controlled cellar..

Let's say that the wines are coming from CA to NY via trailer on a hot sunny day crossing the AZ or NM deserts.
Are the trailers air conditioned or temperature controlled? Otherwise, your wines are being cooked for at least 3 days and in between, it sits in a parking lot while the driver grabs some zzzz. All while the wine gets cooked even more.
After arrival at the warehouse, the delivery truck takes it to the local shop but I've never seen any truck that are air conditioned. Therefore, the wine gets to cook even more..

Can anyone give me the details as to how shipments such as I described takes place?

[Innkeeper]

Hi Twojack and welcome to the Wine Board. All the above are possibilities. Visit Napa Valley someday in July or August, and I can almost promise you that at least one hotshot platz you will find cases of very expensive juice sitting on a loading platform in the burning sun! The bottom line is that if you receive a bad bottle from a retailer or a bad shipment you can always bring or send it back. We never order wine during the summer ever though we get dozens of hard to resist offers from wineries and retailers alike.

[wondersofwine]

Carolina Wine Company is careful that their imported wines are shipped from Europe in temperature-controlled reefers (is that the proper nomenclature?) And their warehouse is kept at 55 degrees Fahrenheit. I'm not sure what arrangements they make for domestic wines but they may have them shipped in the early spring or late fall.

[winoweenie]

Hi Twoi and welcome to the board. I live in Phoenix so can give you the routine followed by my local pusher. EVERY distributor here has an air-conditioned warehouse. All shipments of wine from Calif is shipped in refrigerated trucks and when the drivers are sleeping the reefers are running. The same is true of wine shipped from Bordeaux. The wines are shipped in refrigerated containers. The cost is about a buck to a buck and a half a case over regular LTL shipments so when we're talking about 2 to 600 buck a case cost wines the cost is negligable. Also all shipments from the distributor is made in Air-conditioned trucks in the early AM here in Phoenix to my local pusher. What it boils down to is that the chain knows the huge costs of replacing ruined wine and takes every precaution. WW