Mission
Our mission is to find you, the discriminating wine consumer, the best wines at the lowest prices. To achieve this goal we are not your traditional wine store. We do not have a brick and mortar presence. We are mail order only. This reduces our overhead significantly.
Pre-arrivals
In our ever present effort to cut costs, we may sell our wines as pre-arrivals. While not something you are likely to run into at your neighborhood wine shop, this is an industry standard practice at major wine stores. The sooner we can guarantee payment to our suppliers, the more likely they are to give us discounts. This means lower prices to you. However, it also means that we are selling the wine before we have taken possession of it ourselves. Consequently, we will not normally be able to ship your wine the day you order it. We may still be waiting to receive it from our suppliers.
Shipping
Due to the complexities and expense of interstate shipping, we are currently only shipping to California. (See the Shipping page for more information.) To help control shipping costs we prefer to ship by ground in whole case quantities only. Again, we are happy to ship smaller quantities, or by air, upon request, however, our normal procedure will be to hold your wine, free of charge in our temperature controlled warehouse until you have filled a complete case.
Weather
Another continual concern of ours is the weather. After taking the care and effort to find great wines at great prices, it would be quite disappointing to damage the wine by shipping it during a heat wave. We prefer to ship during the spring, winter and fall, when temperatures are moderate. While we can always ship stock on hand immediately, if requested, our policy is to hold your wine, free of charge, during the summer months in our temperature controlled warehouse.
Delivery Time
What does this mean for you? Please be patient. For these three reasons, you may not see an order for some time. Please recognize that all of this adds up to tasty wine in great condition at great prices. Your patience will be rewarded.
Information
Due to the limited nature of our product line, and that much of it is pre-arrival, we do not operate a traditional "shopping-cart" e-commerce site. While our wines may be found on ebay.com, cellarexchange.com or winecommune.com, the best way to keep informed is through our newsletter which we distribute to our email list.
Payment
Vineyard Specialties, Inc. accepts payment by Paypal and the following credit cards: Visa®, MasterCard®, American Express® and Discover®.
Returns
According to California state law, wines may not be returned for a refund after they are delivered. Orders that have not been delivered may be cancelled without penalty within 7 days of purchase. Any orders (including pre-arrivals) cancelled after 7 days will incur a 5% re-stocking/cancellation fee. We will accept no cancellations 28 days after the order was placed. If our suppliers fail to deliver wines that were purchased as pre-arrivals, or wine arrives at our warehouse damaged, you will receive a full refund of your purchase price.