Frequently Asked Questions

Contacting Us

• How can I get in touch with you?

  Please send us an email at info@howardripley.com, and a member of the team will get back to you.

  You can also give us a call on  02087 482 607 or send us a message through the website contact form.

Orders & Delivery

• Where do you deliver?

  We deliver everywhere in the UK. For overseas customers, ask that you arrange your own shipping.

  Connoisseur International Delivery and Seabrook are both popular options, and collect from our warehouse.

  Please be aware that there are some wines we can only sell to UK customers.

• How much is delivery?

  We offer free delivery in England and Wales for orders over £250.

  Charges for deliveries under £250

  £11.50 within London

  £15 outside of London, in England and Wales

  Please get in touch for a quote on deliveries to Scotland and Ireland.

• What are your delivery times?

  Orders placed before 12 pm are made the next working day for London delivery.

  Deliveries outside of London may take 2-3 business days for delivery. Please get in touch with your postcode for a delivery time estimate.

• What is in bond versus duty paid?

  Our wine arrives in the UK at our bonded warehouse, where it is stored in bond duty-free. Duty and VAT are charged when the wines leave the warehouse for delivery.

   

  The current interim duty rates are £2.67 per 75cl bottle for still wine with an ABV between 11.5% and 14.5%.

  If you have a bonded warehouse account, we are happy to transfer your wines in bond with no transfer fee for orders over £250 or for a £12.50 transfer fee on orders under £250.

  For deliveries to any other addresses, the price of the wine will include duty and VAT.

En Primeur

• What is En Primeur?

  En Primeur is the traditional sale of wine before it is bottled and shipped to the UK, generally at a preferential price.
  Our Burgundian wines are sold en primeur in January the year after harvest and are shipped and ready for delivery the following winter.
  Our German wines are sold en primeur in June (for the traditional wines) and September (for the GGs and the reds). Both arrive and are ready for delivery at the beginning of the new year.
  We release the en primeur vintage with a written offer including a vintage report and tasting notes of all the wines, as well as a tasting of the cask samples for our customers.
  All En Primeur orders must be in full cases (except where noted specifically) and in bond.

  Join our mailing list to receive our en primeur offers and invitations to our tastings.

• Delivery of En Primeur orders

  When you place your order with us, please let us know the delivery address, and if it will be going to a bonded warehouse account or a duty paid address.

  The wine generally begins to arrive in the UK in November. When everything has arrived, generally in February the following year, we will get in touch to confirm your delivery address and arrange a delivery date.

  At the time of delivery, we will send an invoice for any applicable Duty, VAT, and delivery charges.

  If we receive no response from you by May, your wine will go into our warehouse storage and you will be charged the applicable rates for storage, which will need to be paid before taking delivery.

• What is the allocation process?

  Some wines are in very high demand, and we only receive a limited quantity from the domaine. When we release our En Primeur offer, we will have an allocation deadline; if you are interested in any of the allocated wines, please let us know your requests by the deadline.

  After we have allocated all the wines, we will be in touch to let you know what we are able to offer you.

  Orders placed after the allocation deadline will be taken into consideration after the first round of allocations.

• What are your En Primeur tastings?

  We generally have a tasting to accompany every En Primeur release. These are mostly cask samples of the wines that will be shipped later in the year. Please sign up for our mailing list to be included in the invitations.

  Burgundy – January
  Italy – March
  German Traditional and Sweet – June
  German GG and Reds – September

Returns & Refunds

• What if I have a corked bottle?

  Let us know if you come across a corked or flawed bottle within 3 months of purchase, and we will arrange a credit or a refund to your account. We may arrange a collection of the bottle for testing.

• What if my order arrives damaged or with incorrect wines?

  Please get in touch and we will arrange a collection and delivery of a replacement order, or a refund if we are out of stock of the original wine.

• What if I no longer want the order?

  If you have made a mistake with your order or no longer want it, please get in touch, and we can arrange a collection of the wines. The collection charge may vary based on location.

Wine Storage

• Can I store my wine in bond with you?

  We offer the ability to store your wines in bond with us in our warehouse as a customer reserve. Our customer reserves are stored in LCB Eton Park.

• What are your storage charges?

  We send out storage bills in May and charge for any wine in storage on the 1st May, in advance for the year following.

   

  Our storage charges are:

  Small case (6 or fewer bottles, or equivalent) = £6 + VAT

  Large case (6 or more bottles, or equivalent) = £12 + VAT

  We can store partial cases and loose bottles, but each different reference will be charged as a
  separate case. For example, if there are 3 bottles of wine A and 3 bottles of wine B, they will be
  charged as 2 small cases, rather than 1 case of 6 bottles.

• How do I take delivery of my wine in storage?

  Get in touch with us to let us know what you would like to have delivered.

  Duty and VAT on the original sale price will be charged at the time of delivery. We will send an invoice, and arrange delivery upon payment. A delivery charge of £15 will apply for England and Wales, please get in touch for delivery charges to Scotland and Northern Ireland .

  Under bond transfers to other LCB warehouses are subject to a £12.50 transfer fee. Transfers to external (non-LCB) warehouses are subject to additional charges depending on how many cases are transferred and to which warehouse.

  Cases must be withdrawn in full.

Payment

• Which credit cards do you accept?

  We accept all major credit cards except American Express.

• Can I pay by bank transfer?

  Yes, please select the Bank Transfer option at checkout, and we will be in touch with our bank details.

• Do you accept payment by cheque?

  We no longer accept payment by cheque.

Trade Enquiries

• Can I open a trade account?

  We supply restaurants, wine bars, and wine shops across the UK. Details on opening an account can be found on our Trade page or by getting in touch at info@howardripley.com.

• What are your minimum deliveries for trade customers?

  We offer free delivery on orders over £250 ex VAT.

• What are your delivery times for trade?

  Trade orders placed before 12pm will be delivered next-day for delivery in London. Please get in touch for delivery times outside of London.