FAQ

GVWM is an e-commerce retailer currently closed to walk-in customers. We ship to most states across the US, Puerto Rico, and some international destinations. If shipping rates to your destination are not displayed when wine is in your cart, contact us for a quote.

We also offer Curbside Pickup for pre-paid orders placed in advance by phone or online.

• Curbside Pickup hours: Mon-Fri 11am-4:45pm. 
• Same-day pickups must be ordered by 1pm and can be ready after 3pm if requested at time of order.

Please see a list of some of our most frequently asked questions. If you do not see an answer to your question please contact us for further assistance.

For questions related to Shipping your order, please visit our Shipping information page.

• What do the Order Statuses in My Account mean?
• What are Estimated Times of Arrival, and when will I receive my wine?
• Are shipping charges included in the price of the wine?
• Does GVWM offer wine storage?
• What types of payment does GVWM accept?
• What wine critics are referenced on your website?
• Why do old Vintage Ports have different labels?
• Wine Tariffs
  

What do the Order Statuses in My Account mean?

Order Status: Please log in to our website, click on My Account, and select View Order Status. If you have further questions about your orders or to schedule shipment, please contact us.

• Pending or Awaiting Fulfillment – This means that someone from our customer service department has reviewed your order and will be contacting you if your wines are in stock to finalize shipping. If your wines are pre-arrival or futures this status will be updated to Pre-Arrival/Future* until your wines are in stock, at which time someone from our shipping department will contact you to finalize the shipping details, and update the status of your order. *(NOTE: this is a new status so orders on or before 6/30/17 that are pre-arrival/futures may remain "awaiting fulfillment" until your wines are in stock.) 
• Awaiting Shipping Instructions – Someone from our customer service department has contacted you about your order and is awaiting your response. Check your spam folder or Contact us if your order has this status but you haven’t seen correspondence from us.
• Verification Required – Generally this means a portion of your billing address was slightly mismatched (i.e. Suite Twelve vs Suite #12). Our customer service team will review these and generally update the status to Pending.
• Awaiting Payment – This generally only applies to people that have paid with a check or wire transfer; once either is received the status will be updated accordingly.
• Awaiting Shipment – Your order has been processed and is awaiting pickup by the courier service you selected.
• Awaiting Pick Up – This means you have selected the in store pick up option and/or are part of our monthly wine club. Your wines are ready for curbside pickup Mon-Fri 11am-4:45pm. Same-day pickups must be ordered by 1pm and will be ready after 3pm.
• Shipped – Once your order has shipped and a tracking number generated this is the final status of your order. NOTE: sometimes you will have already received your shipment before this status is updated due to the large amount of orders that we process. Also note that when your package is picked up by UPS you will get an email from them with the tracking information. 
• Partially Shipped – This usually means you had both in stock wines and pre-arrivals/futures in a single order. If you choose to have your in stock wines shipped ahead of the others this will remain the status until your pre-arrivals come in, at which time we will contact you to finalize the order.
• Pre-arrival/Future - This means your order is overseas and we are awaiting the wine(s) to come into stock. Once in stock you will be contacted to arrange shipping and your order status will be updated accordingly. If your initial order contained both pre-arrival wines and in stock wines you should have been contacted to inquire about shipping in stock wines. If you chose to ship in stock wines your order will indicate this, but the status will still remain pre-arrival until the rest of your order is shipped.
• Weather Hold - This means our shipping team has been in contact with you about your order and agreed to hold your wine until better weather is available for shipping.

What are Estimated Times of Arrival, and When Will I Receive my Wine?

• Future – This generally only applies to Bordeaux En-Primeur wines that are still in the barrel at the chateaux and are a minimum of 1-2 years away. Check out our dedicated En-Primeur page for more details. If wines from other regions have this ETA, it indicates the estimated arrival is longer than the 3-6 month ETA that normally applies to Pre-Arrivals (below).
• Pre-Arrival – We have secured our allocation from our vendor that is waiting to have it shipped from overseas to our location, generally this is a 3-6month turnaround until we are able to ship your wines.
• 90 Days – This applies when our vendor has verified the wine is on the water from Europe. Often times this ETA is conservative and the wines show up much earlier, however due to the nature of customs clearance, ports, etc, this is the guideline we follow.
  
• 60 Days - This applies when our vendor has verified the wine has landed in the US but has not yet cleared customs. Often times this ETA is conservative and the wines show up much earlier, however due to the nature of customs clearance, ports, etc, this is the guideline we follow.
• 15-30 Days – This means the wine is in customs or occasionally if a domestic wine we order is coming across states, again usually they arrive sooner but this is the guideline we follow.
• 7-10 Days - Wines on order from vendors that we expect delivered in 10 days or less. 
• 3-7 Days – Wines on order from vendors that we expect delivered in a week or less.
• In Stock – Wines are ready to ship or can be ready for curbside pick up same day 3-5pm if ordered before 1pm. For older orders please contact us ahead of time so we can prepare your order.

Are shipping charges included in the price of the wine?

• Shipping charges are not included in wine prices. To estimate shipping costs, add an In-Stock product to your cart by browsing the menu options to the left or with the search box above, then click its "Add to Cart" button. From there click on "View or Edit Your Cart" and then "Estimate Shipping & Tax" and shipping services will be displayed. NOTE: if no shipping options are displayed, please contact us for a quote. 

Does GVWM offer wine storage?

• Temporary Order Holding:
  
  Orders can be held in our temp-controlled warehouse at no charge for 6 months from the time wine is in stock

  - After 6 months charges of .25/bottle/month or a minimum of $50 will apply, whichever is greater

  - Orders that are in stock as of September 1, 2022: customers have until end of 2022 to ship before above fees are charged

What types of payment does GVWM accept?

• Credit Card
• Apple Pay
• PayPal
• Wire Transfer (contact us for details)
• Personal Check (contact us for details)

What wine critics are referenced on your website?

Below is a list of critics we reference on product pages and e-mail offers. We endeavor to list accurate, up-to-date reviews and scores on all wines, however if you find an error or out of date review please  let us know.

Most critics now use the 100-point scale, with Jancis Robinson being the exception. Jancis uses a 20-point scale with 20 being “Truly Exceptional” down to 12 being “Faulty or Unbalanced.”

For a comparison of various rating scales, please click here.  For a chart on converting Decanter scores to and from the 100-point-scale, click here.

RP = Robert Parker, Wine Advocate
WA = Wine Advocate reviewers other than Robert Parker
WS = Wine Spectator, all reviewers
AG = Antonio Galloni, Vinous Media
VM = Vinous Media
JS = James Suckling & all reviewers at JamesSuckling.com
JD = Jeb Dunnuck (formerly Wine Advocate)
BH or AM = Allen Meadows, Burghound
JR = Jancis Robinson & all reviewers at JancisRobinson.com
DE = Decanter, all reviewers
WE = Wine Enthusiast, all reviewers
WH = Steen Ohman, WineHog
VP = Vinepair
JM = Jasper Morris, Inside Burgundy
PL = Peter Liem, Champagne Guide
WI = Lisa Perotti-Brown MW, The Wine Independent (formerly of The Wine Advocate)
JA = Jane Anson MW, Inside Bordeaux (formerly of Decanter)
CT = Cellar Tracker community score
KO = Kerin O'Keefe (formerly of Decanter and Wine Enthusiast)
WCI = Wine Cellar Insider, Jeff Leve
FS = Falstaff, all reviewers

Why do old Vintage Ports have different labels?

Prior to Vintage 1975 the Port Houses would send most of the Port in shipping containers called pipes to England to the established merchants who would then have it bottled, so many of the old Ports have different labels as the merchants were different. Some merchants put both the vintage and the bottling year on the cork. They also would bottle some at the Port House and that would have on the label "OPORTO BOTTLED". Since 1977 vintage all ports are Oporto Bottled and will have the official Houses’s label.

Wine tariffs

Any increase in duty charges, tariffs or taxes will be borne solely by the purchaser.