Our Approach to Summer Shipping

Summer has arrived, and the heat is officially on across much of the U.S. While that’s great news for pool days and river floats, it’s a bit trickier when it comes to wine. Wine is a delicate beverage and doesn’t take kindly to high temperatures — think popped corks, leakage, and sad, cooked bottles. And yes, we fully understand the urgency of that cold glass of Sauvignon Blanc by the pool, beach, or riverbank.

That said, getting your wine to you safely is a responsibility we take very seriously. We’ve spent countless hours dialing in the logistics to ensure your purchases arrive in great shape, even during the hottest months of the year. Below you’ll find everything you need to know about our summer shipping programs at Last Bottle — which, modesty aside, we think are the best in the biz.

Whenever possible, choosing the hold option during the summer months is your safest bet. But if you need that bottle now (trust us, we get it), your next best option is adding an ice pack when selecting your shipping method at checkout.

Keep in mind that extreme heat can cause corks to pop, wine to leak, and bottles to suffer serious damage. Even with an ice pack, protection only lasts so long — after a couple of days in high temperatures, ice packs will give out. Ice packs can only be used with Styrofoam shipping inserts, as they will melt our eco-friendly pulp shippers.

We can hold your package for up to two weeks during the fall, winter, and spring, and for an extended period of time throughout the summer. If you have a specific ship date in mind, simply include your request in the shipping notes at checkout. If you’d prefer your wines to sit tight in our temperature-controlled warehouse until things cool down, select the hold option and we’ll ship your order in the fall when temperatures are safer.

So why all the histrionics? Why can’t wine ship like everything else? Because wine is perishable — just like fish or chocolate — and must stay below a certain temperature. When exposed to excessive heat for too long, wine can “cook,” resulting in flat, stewed flavors (think boiled strawberries or prunes). Once that happens, there’s no undoing it.

Our goal is simple: to deliver the exact wine we promise, tasting exactly the way it should. This policy exists to protect your bottles — and your drinking pleasure.