Customer reviews of Vignerons d’Exception

Thank you, Sir, for your comment. We work every day to try to make delivery smoother, but indeed it is sometimes (thankfully quite rarely) difficult to deliver expensive and fragile fine wines directly to our clients when they are not often at home. Unfortunately, the pickup point is often limited to a few bottles, does not respect the wine at all, and our clients would hold it against us in case of defects, even if they themselves left their wine for a week in an overheated tobacco shop before picking it up. Not to mention the packages that come back to us (at our expense) because clients simply did not go to pick them up. We do not (yet) have the means to bear the additional costs incurred by this solution, which is poorly suited to the quality of the wines we sell, and we are sorry about that. However, we are trying to improve the communication from carriers (SMS, calls, choice of delivery days) and are working hard to improve their service in 2026. We hope it will be well received. Thank you again for your trust and sincerity. Tristan Depauw.

Hello Sir, and thank you for taking the time to give us feedback. We're sorry about the exceptionally long time it took our DB Schenker carrier to deliver to you. It's true that it's difficult to deliver perfectly in the south of France (in this case the Herault, but also sometimes the Bouches du Rhône), but in this case we've broken records and we apologize. When questioned, the carrier couldn't even explain why... Our average delivery time in France is 4 to 5 working days, and more like 2 in Paris... but these are average times. In the event of a new delivery (in other words, if you were to renew your confidence in us), we would insist on prompt delivery and would monitor this closely. As far as packaging is concerned, we use the winemakers' original cartons. They are the ones who choose their cartons, wooden crates, etc. and as a matter of principle, we don't throw away the winegrowers' brand-new cartons to repackage the bottles in new, sturdier packaging, sometimes with polystyrene. Of course, in the event of the slightest problem (and indicated on the delivery note at the time of delivery), as the wines are insured, they are replaced or reimbursed. But this is very rare, as the wines are handled by a carrier deliberately chosen for its specialization in "old-fashioned" wine delivery, so while online tracking is impossible, the cartons are handled with care at every stage, and not just when they're delivered to your door. To reassure you, we do have a computerized tracking system, and we are happy to inform our customers by telephone of the progress of their delivery, just as we advise them on their choices... Again, the old-fashioned way :-). But it's true that we don't control everything - the proof is in the time it takes to deliver... but we still think, as is very rare (once again, apologies, it was you), that it's preferable to go through industrialized behemoths who have automated online tracking, but with whom it's impossible to have the slightest human contact in the event of a grain of sand in the wheels and who, incidentally, (mis)handle the wine on conveyor belts, which can let them "fall" from quite a height (the UPS standard is 2 meters, hence the fact that they impose specific packaging). A vast debate... which is obviously not over, and delivery and packaging are an ongoing concern, the result of "least bad" trade-offs more than anything else... Tristan Depauw, President and Founder of Vignerons d'Exception, who, after 30 years of home delivery, still hasn't found the ideal service provider!

Dear Sir, first of all, thank you for taking the time to give your opinion on the site and on the wines you bought, both of which you described as "average". The first, Stéphane Ogier's "Le Temps est Venu", €11, here's my comment: "Stéphane Ogier's other "little" Côtes du Rhône, mostly Grenache for a change from the illustrious "Ogier Syrah". The quality-price ratio becomes indecent, but don't expect a "little" light Côtes du Rhône... It's really a superb southern Rhône that can be kept for 5 years". I still think that this wine, a great winemaker's classic that has been adopted by many customers who buy it - and repurchase it vintage after vintage - by the dozen, is excellent value for money, especially when left to age a little in the cellar. I'm sorry if you don't agree and find it "average"... but personally, I find it far superior to most of the Grenache-majority Côtes du Rhônes I've tasted throughout the year. This is also true of Stéphane Ogier's other cuvée "La Rosine" (€22), which you also found "average" (and which I invite you to taste again in a few months or years' time - you'll be pleasantly surprised, I hope). Our comments: "Rosine made the initial reputation of Domaine Stéphane Ogier. These old, unappointed Syrahs, adjacent to his Côte-Rôtie plots (and aged for 1 year in the same barrels), have helped him a great deal! Please note, this is not a "petit vin", it's a wine that can be kept for 5 years". I've been tasting thousands of wines every year for the past thirty years, and only select the ones I like with Marion and Edouard, my two tasting partners. Naturally, I'm enthusiastic about all the wines I sell because I've selected them because I particularly like them. Most of the time, I try to avoid publishing my own comments and prefer to quote reputable guides, but unfortunately the latter don't always publish comments on the "small vintages" and concentrate on the big ones when they visit a great winemaker like Stéphane Ogier. Admittedly, tasting is a very personal exercise, but given this winemaker's success around the world, I dare to hope that I'm not the only one who appreciates his wines. I sincerely hope you'll give these wines a second chance in the future... and that you'll enjoy them as much as we do. Please don't hesitate to ask us for advice if you want to find wines better suited to your tastes. We spend a lot of time on the phone with our customers, guiding them towards wines that correspond to what they're looking for. Thank you again for your feedback, which will undoubtedly enable me to temper my enthusiasm for wines that are simply good. Tristan Depauw, founder of Vignerons d'Exception.

Hello, first of all thank you for your trust and for taking the time to give us your opinion. I hope you enjoy the wines we've just delivered. Just a small point about the high shipping costs of €20 inc. VAT (we only collect €16.67, the rest goes to the taxman): the carriers charge us much more than the €16.67 we charge for delivery. The problem is that many online retailers are prepared to lose money by delivering everything virtually free of charge (and thus passing off €20 as a "high" or even exorbitant delivery charge) just to achieve "volume", without having to worry about moving a truck for each small order (because when you pay almost nothing for delivery, you're more likely to order small quantities). Unfortunately, we don't have the means, let alone the will. Certainly for reasons of profitability, but also for environmental reasons: we feel we should charge "at least a little" for delivery (unfortunately, this is still too much for you, I understand and I'm sorry!). We're convinced that it's absurd for web giants to make a €20 delivery seem "expensive", when in fact it costs even more! In order to minimize the number of deliveries and maximize the number of groupage orders, we offer the option of keeping wines free of charge while waiting for a larger groupage order, and thus paying nothing at all for delivery (offered >400€). This way, everyone, including the planet, benefits: many customers no longer order 5 times 1 box (paying €20 each time) but rather 1 time 5 boxes (paying nothing for delivery /1 truck trip instead of 5). In short, I hope you understand why we charge €20 for delivery, and that you'll group your orders so you don't have to pay anything at all :-) Once again, thank you for your trust... and your understanding... and above all, happy tasting! Tristan Depauw, founder of Vignerons d'Exception

Hello Sir, thank you for taking the time to write a review on our site, after 6 orders since 2017. This review was apparently triggered by a bad experience with a 2019 carignan that had a major defect. We're very sorry about this and will deal with the matter directly with you privately to avoid any further disappointment. We just hope that the other 23 wines ordered are not among the "bad surprises", and take advantage of this public message to specify that we are at your disposal all day long by phone and email with all our knowledge of each winemaker to help you order wines that suit you, and for example avoid wines from winemakers a little too "natural and without sulfites" which can - rarely but it is possible - present defects above 14 °C. In short, we hope to have the opportunity to discuss your expectations with you when you place your next order, should you pass on this "road trip" and continue to place your trust in us. Best regards, Tristan Depauw

Dear Sir, we're sorry that our service provider, Schenker, has taken so long to deliver your fourth order in the Cantal region (the first three were delivered in less than a week, but not like UPS in two days, which costs much more than the €20 we charge for a delivery, which was offered to you because you ordered more than €400). In short, we apologize and promise not to let this happen again. We prefer to trust a carrier specialized in wine, but a little slower and "old-fashioned", who handles the boxes by hand (machines break a lot more) and stores them in adapted warehouses, rather than entrusting your wines to an express carrier who risks breaking the bottles with his impressive - and violent - automatons, without worrying about storage conditions between two trucks, etc. as long as it's delivered quickly (and at a good price). In short, we consider that the wines we sell, even if they arrive slowly, will be in perfect condition, and that's our priority, bearing in mind that they're generally not for immediate consumption... but to enjoy over several years! Having said that, you're absolutely right, the delay in your fourth order was totally unacceptable, and totally unusual, for which we apologize again. Enjoy the tasting, and we promise to insist on prompt delivery next time, if there is a next time :-) Thank you for your understanding, and we hope to have another chance to do better! Best regards, Tristan Depauw

Dear Sir, Your disappointment with the Domaine d'Ouréa "tire bouchon" (€10) seems to have generated this comment about our site in general. With 26 wines purchased since 2019, and no reviews left (neither negative nor positive), we thought you were satisfied with our service and selections... it seems we don't "always measure up", and we're sorry to hear that. We're really keen to hear your opinions, whether positive or negative, as they enable us to move forward and improve. For example, we're going to re-taste the wine you didn't like. We also hope that your feedback will help us to improve our service to you, by telling us what you didn't like about the wine you tasted... Thanks again for your loyalty, we'll do everything we can to improve! Best regards, Tristan Depauw.

Thank you very much for your feedback, which has enabled us to get things moving again. As we've already told you privately, this happens very rarely, but in this case we were the victims of a combination of factors against us: first of all we blocked deliveries because of the very hot weather, which was specified in all the order confirmations, not always read. Hence the absence of any news about your order. Then, as the temperatures returned to normal, we "released" all pending orders... but yours was "forgotten" by human error in our cellars, which was inexcusable... especially as we then had to deal with an incredibly useless delivery driver (and his manager)... who didn't understand that it wasn't their delivery round that took precedence, but your hours of availability, and above all customer satisfaction before the delivery driver's !!!. Fortunately, after your call to us, things went back to normal and you were quickly delivered and received your wine before your medical appointment. In short, we apologize once again for all these setbacks, and there's no doubt that if you give us another chance, we'll pay particular attention to your order and its delivery. Enjoy tasting the wines of Clément and Florent Pinard, Vincent's sons, whose wines are harder and harder to find - we run out every year! Best regards,

Dear Sir, we're sorry that the delivery driver was 20 minutes early in his round. Of course, if you hadn't gone to pick up your wines that day, he would have come back to deliver on another day since he couldn't find anyone. The carrier or we would have contacted you to rearrange an appointment. Please accept our sincere apologies for the inconvenience, and please don't hesitate to call us if you have the slightest delivery problem. We do our best to make things easier with carriers who unfortunately can't carry out their rounds to the minute or go back... We'll do our best to do better next time, and hope you'll forgive us this time and give us another chance. Sincerely, Tristan Depauw

Dear Sir, in certain regions and (fortunately) only at certain times, the Schenker carrier, although one of the most respectful in France of our fragile products such as bottles of wine, lacks flexibility and imposes a time slot that is not a time slot. We apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused you. In general, things go very smoothly once the delivery person calls, because when you're not there, you can always find a way to be re-delivered. All he had to do was offer a shorter time slot... and the rigidity of the facade takes second place to the human touch. Unfortunately, this doesn't seem to have been the case for you... If there's a next time, don't hesitate to use us as an intermediary, as we also manage to make logisticians a little more flexible... Thank you again for your confidence. Tristan Depauw

Dear Sir, after successfully delivering your first 5 orders without difficulty (albeit to an address that's hard to trace: the corner of two main roads, with no street number or name), your sixth order went very badly. We have over 1000 different wines in stock, and Monique, the person who prepared your order, reversed two cartons. You received a box that you hadn't ordered. This is an error which is normally corrected during a second check by another order picker (while Monique checks the orders she didn't pick), but here the second checker also let the inversion slip through. As we told you on the phone when we called to arrange delivery of the new parcel, this is a very rare occurrence, and we're very sorry that it "fell" on you. You're right, the delivery of the new box has become cataclysmic. The law of series, no doubt... Our carrier did a very poor job (no doubt sending an SMS to your phone with a link to click to choose the date - impossible if it's not a smartphone). In the end, you canceled everything, insulting our logistics department copiously (Samira was deeply hurt by the words used), who called you to try and sort out this re-delivery, which was certainly generated by our preparation error, but which didn't deserve such words. We would like to thank you, however, for giving 5*/5 and 4*/5 to the other two wines you ordered and received, the last ones we delivered. We promise there won't be any more. Best regards, Tristan Depauw.

Dear Sir, despite our private email exchanges, the website "tiers de confiance" Avis-Vérifiés has asked me to "officially" reply to you. Sorry again for these disappointments, which we have since corrected by reimbursing you and correcting our prices, after having noticed, thanks to you, that there were significant discrepancies between the purchase prices of different distributors directly at the winery, which is extremely rare since in the vast majority of cases we display the same prices as those at the winery. Thank you again for your understanding... and for your new order :-) Best regards, Tristan Depauw

Dear Sir, thank you again for your confidence. I'd like to reassure you about the delivery time: your wine didn't spend more than a week in transit with UPS. We advertise a delivery time of about 2 weeks for Europe, but wine spends much less time in transit. You ordered on Saturday 25th, and your order left our Burgundy winery on Monday evening 27th, traveling overnight to arrive at our air-conditioned office on the morning of the 28th, where we pack all European orders ourselves in special cartons. Your wine - by the way, it's a very resistant Trévallon in Provence, particularly strong because it's made from Cabernet Sauvignon + Syrah - left our Lyon office on Thursday July 30th, and was delivered to you on Monday August 3rd at 11am. On our website, you can choose a later date within the next 3 months if you don't want your wine to be delivered immediately, for example if it's hot or you're out of town. Thank you again for your trust and understanding, Tristan Depauw

Dear Sir, I'm sorry you didn't appreciate the deposit in Xavier Braujou's unfined and unfiltered wines. The wines come directly from the estate and arrive in our air-conditioned cellars without ever being moved again, except to be delivered to you. The deposit you don't like is not the result of poor storage: it's made up of lees or dead yeast, the result of alcoholic fermentation. The winemaker neither fined nor filtered his wines precisely in order to leave these lees in contact with the wine as much as possible to give it greater finesse. This is his method of vinification and ageing. I'm sorry if this doesn't suit you, and invite you to consult the wine data sheets on our site and avoid unfiltered wines which will inevitably show deposits. You can also call us if you need advice, and we'll be delighted to point you in the right direction. Best regards, Tristan Depauw.

Hello Sir, First of all, thank you for your encouragement... and for your comment about our delivery system using a classic carrier, which is admittedly less flexible than other very expensive systems used by our colleagues who take on the service themselves, at the peril of their profit and loss account. Unfortunately, we're not financed by wealthy investors who make up our company's losses every year in the hope that things will improve one day, and must have balanced accounts (which has been the case since 2015) to be able to continue investing in stock, our raison d'être for offering ready-to-drink wines throughout the year, bought directly from the winemakers. We therefore have to charge €20 for each delivery under €400 (we offer it for orders over that amount). This €20 is still less than the actual cost of a delivery, but it's true that it's often more expensive than what our colleagues charge, who take on more. We've made progress, however, since it's now possible to choose an option "keep my wines until I exceed the threshold" so wait until you've placed several "small" orders (<400€) to trigger a single delivery, once you've crossed the carriage-paid threshold. Many customers are using this new feature, and seem satisfied with the method. We also hope to introduce a parcel relay delivery system in 2020, a system we didn't want to adopt initially, because if our customers were slow to collect their wine from a location unsuitable for its conservation (overheated in winter, for example, or in direct sunlight in summer), they could hold us responsible for the poor conservation and therefore potential defects in the wine at the time of tasting, cancelling their order and sending us back wines that have become unsaleable. But we don't despair of offering customers an alternative after informing them of this potential risk. In short, we're working to improve our logistics organization, while keeping our prices competitive, and keeping our year-end accounts in the red, like those of most of our colleagues (few of us publish our accounts at the registry office, which can be consulted on societe.com, and guess why...). We therefore hope to be able to continue investing in our stock and offering a range as attractive as ever, as well as our consulting services... for many years to come :-) Thank you again for your comments, we promise to work hard to improve... Have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! Tristan Depauw

Hello Sir, and thank you for your comment and your orders. Unfortunately, we have to pay for delivery between our Burgundy winery and our Lyon office. This costs much more than €5! The fact that we group all shipments together every Monday saves us a little, which is why we only charge €5. The wine merchants who don't charge are certainly those who have the wines on site :-) This service is designed for people in Lyon who work and can't have parcels delivered to their homes when they're away. In fact, it's very much appreciated, as they meet us "in real life" and our discussions are always very friendly, often revolving around our shared passion, wine! Of course, our customers are under no obligation to choose this service, and they can always opt for home delivery (which, by the way, costs us much more than the €20 we charge for this service!) I hope you enjoy your tastings. Best regards, Tristan Depauw.

Dear Sir, you rate us 3*/5 and regret that we did not offer a discount on your Hermitage Gréal 2016 (€140), specifying "attention aux étiquettes"... I imagine they were badly stuck? Indeed, this winemaker uses an old method and this step is not always optimal ...
unfortunately we can't open all the boxes from our 120 winemakers when they arrive to check that they've glued the labels properly... we've passed on your disappointment to Mr. Sorrel, but there's been no reply... I hope you'll understand that we can't offer a commercial gesture if we don't receive one from the winemaker, who isn't always aware that his image is also reflected in the packaging. We see this on a daily basis when we observe the poor quality of the cartons used, for bottles that are sometimes very expensive. We are sincerely sorry to hear about your inconvenience with the label, and have added an explanatory text to each of Mr. Sorrel's Hermitage sheets: Labels: please note that the winemaker still uses an old-fashioned method of affixing his labels, which are not always perfectly applied... which in no way affects the quality of his wine! Thank you again for your understanding, Tristan Depauw.

Hello Sir, and thank you for your confidence and your comment (don't hesitate to let us know about a problem as soon as you receive the wine, without waiting for the late e-mail from "Avis-Vérifiés"). We're sorry you came across a bottle that "leaked", this happens (rarely) at bottling time, the winemakers usually notice it and discard it (as it has nothing to do with wine quality, but simply a "pinched" or porous cork, they keep them for personal consumption :-). This bottle must have slipped through the net... We'll be in touch directly to rectify the problem. Best regards, Tristan Depauw.

Hello Sir, thank you for your objective and constructive comments, and sorry for the inconvenience our logistics system imposes: full boxes and daytime delivery outside weekends. Here are a few explanations of my choices, which I'm obviously reviewing to improve our services: 1. non-mixing: the wines we sell are mostly well-known vins de garde, which our customers buy to age and taste from time to time - it would be a shame to have only one! That's why we've chosen to offer only original cartons/cases, which is of course also less expensive and enables us to offer the best prices, without making a loss (many competitors lose a lot of money by offering very expensive services free of charge, so much the better for customers in the short term... but will these colleagues last long? societe.com is a good tool). Our prices would be different if we had 1 carton of each of our 900 cuvées open for "à la carte" blending, and had to pay handlers to create blended cartons after buying a new one and throwing away the one from the winemaker (not great for the planet). We now offer a dozen or so "house" blends, for those who wish to discover them, but no more... You're right, it's a service we need to make more widespread, which we'll do little by little, as our business grows and we're able to devote more resources to it. 2. Specialized carriers who only deliver during the day: in the past, we have tested non-specialized carriers who deliver on Saturdays and also to relay points. There was a lot of breakage, despite compulsory repackaging in special cartons designed for mechanized sorting lines (the carton must be able to fall 2 meters without breaking - what respect for wine?), and the wines could remain several days in an overheated store... with potentially catastrophic results for bottles costing hundreds of euros that we can't even replace, because they're so rare! Aware that not delivering to a relay point is not an acceptable solution, we'll soon be implementing this system, as soon as we've convinced our specialized carrier to adapt his IT system... but we'll make sure to communicate carefully about the risk of poor conservation of the wines! We're making slow progress and improving our services, but we'll be sure to do so as our resources increase, depending on our healthy growth, because we want to still be around in 10 years' time to offer the fine bottles that are currently ageing in our cellars! Thank you again for your understanding. Tristan Depauw company founder.

Dear Sir, we're very sorry that your July delivery didn't go smoothly, and we'd like to offer you our sincere apologies. Our carrier, Schenker, which specializes in wine transport, has a "small" partner in Savoie and the latter, although quite flexible the rest of the year, must have been overwhelmed due to the vacations of his delivery men... we are sorry that our logistics department (located in Chalon, where our wines are stored) was unable to make up for the communication shortcomings of the local delivery man... and we hope that you will give us another chance... very good tasting in the meantime! Tristan Depauw

Dear Sir, I'm sorry that one of the few recipients of Chateau Chalon 2010 from Domaine Macle is not satisfied, and please accept our apologies. A few explanations: we're sorry that the carrier behaved badly, and would have liked to solve your problem if you had let us know. Don't hesitate next time! Schenker specializes in wine, and in 25 years of home deliveries, it's the carrier we've had the fewest problems with, by far. We're launching an immediate investigation to find out what went wrong with the carrier, and we'll do everything we can to make sure it doesn't happen again. After all, things can go wrong, especially in the summer, when unmotivated temps sometimes do a poor job of looking after our customers. As far as packaging is concerned, most of our customers appreciate receiving the estate's original packaging, and all our logistics and traceability are based on this principle. Despite our comments, the winery continues to use low-strength cardboard, perhaps on the assumption that clavelins are strong... and the specific shape of the clavelin prevents us from repackaging them in stronger neutral cardboard. We'll pass on your comment to the winery in the hope that they'll invest a little more in their boxes... Once again, our apologies for this delivery, which fell far short of our quality standards, and we hope that you will renew your trust in us and check that this was just an isolated malfunction. Best regards, Tristan Depauw

Dear Sir, First of all, thank you for your comments which, even if negative, help us to progress. You registered on our site in 2014, and we never convinced you with our catalogs and our ever more complete range. A few weeks ago, you ordered for the first time and took advantage of an unprecedented promotion: progressive quantity discounts on two non-rare wines: the Cuilleron syrah at -21% (€7.90 instead of €10, per 4 cartons) and the domaine du mortier "fût de chêne" viré clessé at -25% (at €11.25 instead of €15, per 5 cartons).
No, the fact that we paid less was not due to "tank bottlings", it was simply a question of non-rare wines, with recurrent success, which allow us once a year to give our customers very good deals on everyday wines, our regular customers being quite often frustrated by the too limited quantities of our winemakers' superior cuvées. We're sorry you didn't like Yves Cuilleron's Syrah. You rated it 1*/5 and commented "mediocre". On the other hand, you didn't bother to rate the Viré Clessé (which you consider "satisfactory" in this review of our site in general). Admittedly, this Syrah is not the wine of the century, but many of our customers are "afficionados" of it and enjoy it on a daily basis, precisely for its lightness and simplicity, without expecting too much complexity. We're sorry to say you won't be one of them. We sell several thousand bottles of this cuvée every year, and have never had any negative feedback, only the occasional disappointment from customers who were used to the estate's superior cuvées, we admit. Having said that, tastes and colors are not up for discussion, and you can of course, like all our customers who don't like a wine, return it to us (71 rue mermet, 69160 tassin) and we'll refund you for the wines received as soon as we receive them. Regarding the condition of the boxes when they arrived at your home in Quiberon three days after they left our Burgundy cellars (they left the day after we received your check in the mail), we're sorry that they weren't visually correct. We don't understand your remark: "no packaging". We only sell whole cartons purchased directly from the estates, and simply deliver these cartons. In fact, some winegrowers use flimsy cartons, and when we suggest they use sturdier ones, they usually point out that it's expensive and that as long as the bottle isn't damaged, that's the main thing... and sometimes add that they reserve the sturdier cartons (and sometimes wooden crates) for the "superior" vintages of their production. Of course, the cartons are always a little "shaken up" during transport, whether to France or the other side of the world, and everyone knows that it's enough to wait two or three days for the wines to rest for the quality of the bottles to be irreproachable.
Once again, please accept our apologies for having failed to satisfy you, both in terms of the quality of the Syrah (we have of course passed on your comment to the winemaker, who is very open to compliments but also to criticism), and the condition of the boxes when they arrived. Yours sincerely, Tristan Depauw

Dear Sir, thank you for your compliments... As for your "but", you will understand that, as this site presents the wines of highly respected winemakers, wines that I have all personally tasted and selected, it is obvious that I liked them and therefore that my Thursday newsletter, which I sign and assume responsibility for, advantageously presents these wines, with my comments that you describe as "self-indulgent". The submerged part of the iceberg is all the wines tasted and not selected, and therefore not commented on negatively! Finally, on our site, I very rarely include my own comments, and deliberately choose comments from recognized critics, mainly the two major French wine guides and Wide Advocate magazine, to make the information as objective as possible. Thank you for your understanding! Yours truly, Tristan Depauw

Dear Customer, After 7 orders delivered without a hitch, we have indeed missed the delivery of the 8th. Unfortunately, this box of Witches was one you were planning to give to your son-in-law for Christmas, and we're very sorry we didn't deliver it on time. In fact, it was the only Christmas delivery we didn't honor, and we apologize again... When we took your order over the phone, our mistake was to give the carrier your home phone number, not your cell phone number. This was in fact included in the delivery address given in our order confirmation email, in which we suggest our customers validate this address and alert us if any details are missing... The delivery driver tried to deliver to you three times during the week preceding the Christmas weekend (Tuesday, Thursday and Friday), and left three messages on your landline answering machine, which you did not follow up. We should have known that you weren't listening to your messages, and should have passed on your mobile number... What a pity that you didn't alert us until the Saturday of the Christmas weekend to tell us that the delivery hadn't arrived, and that you hadn't received a call from the carrier since our dispatch notice received 10 days earlier! It was only then that we realized that you were only listening to your cell phone messages, which we made the mistake of not communicating to the carrier. We could have done something the day before, but not on Christmas weekend... we couldn't do anything. The box, which was a gift, was therefore delivered on the following Wednesday directly to the person you wished to give it to, and we deleted the landline number from your address so that there would be no more mistakes or messages left in the void... Once again, please accept our apologies, we will not make the same mistake again! Sincerely, Tristan Depauw

Hello Sir, and thank you for your encouragement. Instead of using our website, telephone or email, you used our "paper" order form, and your order took 15 days to arrive in our letterbox... it's a shame that the slowness of La Poste earned us only 3*/5 in your eyes, a mark we're not used to! Fortunately, the wines we wanted were still in stock... and you phoned us. Thank you again for your confidence, Tristan Depauw.

Dear Sir, first of all, thank you for your trust and for your constructive comment. I hope at least that you were satisfied with the wines, as we have chosen to deliver by "courier" rather than "express". I'll try to explain the reasons for this choice in all sincerity. Courier service is the only way to respect the original packaging, ensuring direct provenance from the estates, and also respecting the stamped wooden crates that our customers are so fond of. This carrier - Schenker - isn't "express", nor is it perfect, but it's the only one specialized in wine on the one hand, and which on the other hand doesn't impose costly repackaging in specific packaging adapted to mechanization and, what's more, very little respect for the environment. Fortunately, this carrier, which has specialized in wine for decades, is also the best equipped in terms of air-conditioned or double-insulated and ventilated warehouses, where the wines spend most of their time during the week of delivery (your 1st order was delivered in two days in the Paris region, as soon as we received your payment cheque, but your second order for the Lot department, not very direct from Burgundy, took a week). Not all carriers have the same storage conditions adapted to wine... and some sometimes leave the wines in a non-air-conditioned "relais colis" for you to collect them if the recipient is absent, without asking your opinion... not great either for sulphur-free wines.
Having said that, it's true that delivery is a real concern for all wine sellers, and that the ideal solution doesn't exist... or else it's too expensive, and no customer would agree to pay the price, which you already find too high: €16.6 ex VAT, or €20 incl. VAT, is what it actually costs to deliver a case of 6 bottles in France. It costs much more when we deliver several cartons. But we only charge this flat rate of €20, whatever the quantity ordered, and offer it for orders of €400 or more. That's why our customers sometimes get together several people to reach the "franco" rate. You're right, we may seem expensive, and other sites charge less, but lose money on this service. We can't afford this luxury if we want to keep our prices competitive and, above all, keep doing what we do for the long term. At least, to make these invoicing conditions clear, we "show our colors" on the home page of our site and in all our Thursday newsletters...
On the subject of "natural" wines, you're absolutely right there too: unsulphured wines run a high risk of not being able to withstand temperatures >14°C, which is why we don't offer them, apart from one exception out of our 750 references: JC Lapalu's "tentation" cuvée, which I adore... (He's such a master of winemaking that there's virtually no risk, and we've never had a problem). Well-made, "low-sulphite" wines are "low-sulphite" precisely so that they can be transported at normal temperatures and not suffer any deviations in the event of less-than-optimal storage conditions. In fact, most of our cuvées have very little sulfur, but our very elitist selection at least has this merit: all the wines are well made and present little risk of deviations, thanks to the great mastery of their makers from vine to bottle. Of course, there's always a risk, like cork taint... and many other lesser-known risks, too. In short, we do our best... and try as far as possible to deliver wines without the slightest shock. We keep deliveries to a minimum in hot weather, and so on. But it's true, it's not easy! In any case, I want you to know that we do everything we can to deliver faster when our customers ask us to, and to satisfy them whatever the request. I'm sure we'll manage to lower our delivery costs and improve our lead times over time... Thank you again for your trust and understanding, and I hope to see you soon! Tristan Depauw, founder.