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Distributors who do it right!

For every Manhattan liquor store cooking a bottle of fine wine in an August store window, or small-town distributor delivery person who stops for a long lunch in Amarillo in July while his van becomes an oven, creating Bordeaux Brulée, there are great examples of people who are sensitive to wine's delicate nature:

Augustan Imports

Florida can be brutal for wine, requiring cooling throughout most of the year (see this temperature graph).


	Moving wines from Augustan's temperature controlled trucks to their temperature controlled warehouse

Our distributor, Augustan Imports took their convictions and made them public several years ago when their new warehouse was optimized for cooling, with massive insulation and energy-efficient equipment. So much so that the local electric company made Augustan's Proal Perry a household face and name, showing up in TV ads for conservation.

They even store their fully air conditioned delivery trucks inside to keep them cool when not in use, a contrast to competitors (read-in Soprano, violin case, dark suits) who are still notorious in the state for high-temperature transport and not knowing the difference.

Seaboard Wine Warehouse

Seaboard Wine Warehouse Logo A retail shop in Raleigh, NC, preaches common sense for their customers in warm months. Seaboard Wine Warehouse attaches to each box or bag going out the door a warning note that reminds people that wine is perishable:

“Wine is adversely affected by heat. Even a small increase in temperature.... Please protect your purchase and DO NOT LEAVE IT IN YOUR CAR or in a warm area.”

They encourage customers to treat wine as they would milk or produce. You wouldn't leave them in your car with windows rolled up baking in the noonday sun, becoming unsafe, wilted. They encourage the wine purchase at the end of a series of errands, not at the beginning.

Sussex Wine Merchants

Another distributor, Sussex Wine Merchants in NJ, is fanatic about temperature. Not content to trust the below waterline location of containers for European imports, they insist on refrigerated containers from winery to their door, and on-board recorders for proof of temperature control.

The mantra for temperature control has gone a step farther now with all imported bottles affixed with a “Shipped at 56°” back label. The marketing of this idea has created a major head of steam for their retailers and restaurateurs with large in-store displays espousing the virtues of this kind of shipment and storage.

And guess what? It works. Sales are up.