This page contains important information about our shipping charges and shipping policies. The first section contains important information, presented in an easy to read manner. The second section contains more detailed information, including important legal facts and policies.

Section 1: Basic Shipping Intel

Here are some important things you should know about our shipping policies:

• You can only order wine from us if you are 21 years of age or older.
• To assure timely delivery and avoid delays, it is recommended that you ship your wine order to a commercial (business) address.
• In order for UPS to release your wine to you, an adult signature is required. Make sure that an authorized person of at least 21 will be available to sign for your wine order.
• We cannot ship to these states: Alabama, Arkansas, Delaware, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Mississippi, Montana, New Jersey, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Dakota and Utah. If you live in one of these states, we recommend that you visit Free The Grapes to learn about what you can do to help change the laws that prevent you from ordering fine wines from retailers like The Wine Spies and directly from wineries.
• We expect to ship to these states soon: Georgia, Hawaii, Louisiana, North Dakota, Nebraska, New York, Texas, Virginia, Vermont, West Virginia and Wyoming. If you live in one of these states and wish to be informed when we can ship great wines to you, please email statelaunch@thewinespies.com.
• We only charge our actual cost for shipping wine to you. Keep in mind that wine is heavy stuff and that you can economize on your order by ordering more than one bottle at a time.
• We guarantee that your wine will arrive undamaged and drinkable. If there is any problem with your order, or if you need to return an order, please contact the Shipping Department for a return authorization. Returns will not be accepted without a return authorization.

Section 2: Detailed Shipping Intelligence Briefing

Title & Ownership Title to, and ownership of, all wine passes from The Wine Spies to the purchaser in the State of California and the purchaser takes all responsibility for the shipping it from California to his/her home state. By arranging for transportation of the wine, The Wine Spies is providing a service to, and acting on behalf of the purchaser. By utilizing this service from The Wine Spies, the purchaser is representing that he/she is acting in a fashion compliant with his/her local and state laws regarding the purchase, transportation and delivery of wine. The purchaser represents that he/she has obtained any required permission, paid any required fees, is working through properly licensed intermediaries where required, is legally entitled to take possession of wine and is legally entitled to take quantities ordered and once again authorizes that he/she is 21 years of age.

Shipping States The Wine Spies can only ship wine to states that permit direct shipment from California. We currently determine your shipping status during checkout by verifying your ZIP Code. We also, automatically calculate your shipping costs and appropriate state sales and excise taxes from your ZIP Code. Additional information on shipping and all your shipping options are presented at check-out.

We cannot ship wine to the following states because they prohibit direct wine shipments: Alabama, Arkansas, Delaware, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Mississippi, Montana, New Jersey, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Tennessee and Utah. If you want to help change wine shipping laws please visit Free The Grapes.

The following states allow shipping on a limited basis and The Wine Spies may be able to deliver wine to you there: Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Idaho, Michigan, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, North Carolina, North Dakota, Oregon, South Carolina, Washington, Wisconsin and Wyoming. Enter your ZIP code when ordering to check if we can ship to you. If not and if you live in these states please be patient. We will soon be delivering wine. If you would like an update on the status of these states please send us an email.

Estimated Delivery Time Shipping times are depended on several factors. We strive to fill orders within 72 hours (three busiess days) of placement, however in some cases The Wine Spies may encounter delays in sourcing the wine from the winery. The Wine Spies uses UPS for all its shipping. You will have the option of selecting Ground, 2 Day and Overnight options at check-out. All packages are packed in our “UPS Approved” wine shipping containers to ensure proper delivery. We do everything possible on our end to protect our wine shipments from temperature-related damage. If you are concerned about the weather in your area, you may request a specific shipping date or you may request a faster shipping method. You will receive an email containing tracking information once your order is boxed and ready for shipment. Please note, these tracking numbers will not be active until they are scanned by the driver. (For example, if you have an order scheduled to ship on a Monday, we may box it on a Friday and send you the tracking info. However, the tracking info will not be valid until the driver picks it up on Monday.)

Signature Policy You must be 21 years of age or older to purchase wine from The Wine Spies. All packages sent out by The Wine Spies REQUIRE an adult signature upon delivery. It is highly recommended that you provide us with a business shipping address for best service. Customer comments on their order such as “Please leave on back porch” or “Please leave at front door” will be ignored! We will not be able to refund any purchase or shipping charges if your package comes back to us because there was no adult to sign for the wine!

Weather On occasion, poor weather may prevent us from making a timely delivery. We want your wine to arrive in drinkable form. Heat and cold may damage the shipment. Should we feel that weather may impact your delivery, we will inform you during the check-out process. In such cases we will typically hold your shipment until the weather improves. You will be provided the option to select alternate delivery methods as well.

Returns The Wine Spies is committed to 100% customer satisfaction! If there is any problem with your order, we want to hear about it. Please note, any problems with the receipt of your package must be emailed in to us within 30 days of the delivery date! If you suspect the bottle is bad, please just put the cork back in the wine leaving the contents of the wine in the bottle. We can’t take back any empty bottles! If you find any errors regarding type of wine and vintage, please let us know immediately. All such communication should be emailed to our customer service department support@thewinespies.com right away.

The Wine Spies will arrange to have the package picked up and returned to us right away for inspection. Once the package is returned to us, we will inspect the contents and then send out a replacement package to you or refund your purchase price. For this reason, it is vital that you let us know of any error immediately to ensure the fastest delivery of your new shipment.

All wine sold is guaranteed to be good. Sometimes in a lot you can have a bad bottle. If for any reason you feel the wine is not good, you need to obtain a return authorization number. To get this number, go to the contact us tab on the main page of the The Wine Spies site. In the comments box please give us your name, address, invoice number as well as a phone number and time we can reach you and we will email you with a return authorization number within 24 hours. You can call the customer service number and leave your full name, invoice number, address, phone number and time you can be reached on the answering machine, but it will take up to 48 hours to respond to your call.

If the wine is bad we will REFUND YOU THE ENTIRE PURCHASE INCLUDING ALL SHIPPING CHARGES. PLEASE BE AWARE THAT UNLESS THE WINE IS BAD OR DAMAGED DURING SHIPPING YOU CANNOT RETURN YOUR PURCHASE. ALL SALES ARE FINAL.

If there is additional information you want to know about our policies that you do not see here please contact the Shipping Department.