The summer holidays are an opportunity to visit domains and buy wines directly from the vineyard… But as the sun beats down, and those bottles stack up in the boot of your car, you might ask yourselves, is there a better way to do this?

It is difficult to resist temptation… On the way to the Côte d’Azur, your other half has accepted to stop briefly in Burgundy. Two vineyard visits tops, not a single more! And there, inevitably, after having tasted two or three delicious nectars, you cannot resist, and you buy a case of 6 bottles at each of your vinous stops. You put them in your car boot, just between the inflatable buoys and the inflatable boat. And off you go for another 600km under a blazing sun, with, of course, a few hours stuck in the traffic jams of the Rhone Valley. It’ll be the same story on the way back, with another one-and-a-half hour stop to the south of Valence, where you’re out of luck: there are no parking spaces left in the shade…

If in a few years, the Vosne-Romanée Premier Cru bought that fateful summer is a bit disappointing, don’t be surprised!

This is of course a rather caricatural scenario. Yet it can be a recurring situation during the summer months. We must keep in mind the fact that wine is a living product and that, even without respecting the recommended maximum temperature of 16°C for each bottle, it is certainly not recommended to leave them for several hours at 40°C.

On the other hand, when driving for two or three hours, even when the weather is very hot, there is no potential problem, especially if it is a box of 12 bottles. The coolness of the cellar from which these bottles probably came combined with the relative insulation of the cardboard, protect the wine. If your car isn’t full and has good air conditioning, you can also place them behind a seat. Just don’t put the baby in the trunk under the pretext of gaining space in the car for your precious bottles!

So, what should you do when confronted with a sudden urge to buy wine in temperatures upwards of 35°C?

First solution: plan your vineyard trips for the end of your holiday, when you’re already on your way back home. If you stop in Burgundy, say, (or any other wine region in the world 😉) and bury your bottles in the bottom of your boot, the wines will only have to spend a few hours in the car, and in reality they won’t suffer at all.

Second solution: buy the wines and have them delivered in the autumn by the winemaker. It will cost you a little more, but at least the wines won’t have to travel in high temperatures…

But the best solution is, you guessed it, to buy your wines on iDealwine! Especially given that wine in our fixed-price sales are sold at estate price. The bottles are stored in our air-conditioned warehouse, and you can choose whether to have them delivered at the date of your choosing or to pick them up directly yourself. If the wines were destined for your summer holiday enjoyment, (like a selection of good rosés for example!), you can even have them delivered directly to your holiday destination! Packaged in polystyrene cases, the bottles are protected from high temperature and any bumps along the way. Because your bottles deserve only the best.