Explaining the Ideal Wine Company's Fine Wine Delivery Service

We always strive to ensure you receive outstanding service when you purchase a bottle of luxury wine from the Ideal Wine Company. As part of our commitment to excellence, we have a first-rate fine wine delivery service. Road on for more details.

Buying wine online

Data from Rabobank, a financial services group, indicates that people across the UK are increasingly choosing to buy wine online. It’s not hard to see why. E-commerce channels provide consumers with convenience, allowing them to make purchases from the comfort of their own homes.

If you’re looking for an online fine wine retailer, think about purchasing your next luxury vintage from the Ideal Wine Company. We sell bottles produced in some of the most prominent wine making regions on earth, from old world areas like Bordeaux, to emerging new world regions like California.

Fine wine delivery

When you make a purchase from us, you will need to use our fine wine delivery service, where we arrange for your bottles to be sent right to your doorstep. Our deliveries take place between 8am and 5pm on weekdays. No deliveries can be made on a weekend.

There is a charge attached to the Ideal Wine Company fine wine delivery service. We should note that the cost listed in this article is based on UK addresses only, so prices may vary for delivery to non-UK addresses and import duty may apply. We don’t currently deliver overseas. Our minimum delivery charge is a bank balance friendly £15 and this will allow for up to 12 bottles of your favourite tipple to be sent direct to you.

Here at the Ideal Wine Company, we also buy fine wine from consumers, allowing us to widen the variety of products available to our customers. We should note that if we buy a bottle of wine from you, we won’t charge you for collection, ensuring you truly reap the benefits of the sale. It’s important to note however that if the wine you are transferring to us is in a bonded warehouse account, you may be charged a fee by your warehouse.

Value for money

The Ideal Wine Company is committed to providing real value for money. Our fine wine delivery service ensures you receive your purchase conveniently, without having to break the bank! For instance if you buy three bottles of Antinori Tignanello Toscana IGT 1990 from us– a great Italian red wine by the way, you can have them delivered straight to you for just £15!

Shipwrecked 150 Year Old Wine Tastes Mostly of Salt Water

The Ideal Wine Company were slightly amused to learn recently, that experts were dismayed to find that a 150 year old wine recovered from a shipwreck turned out to taste mostly of salt water.

Wine needs to be stored properly

As suppliers of fine wines from some of the most famous wine making regions on the planet, the Ideal Wine Company has never, not for one minute, underestimated the importance of storage.

No matter how old your vintage, you need to store it properly if you want to ensure it provides you with the out-of-body experience so common of fine wines, when you finally crack it open. As a recent discovery proved, store wine incorrectly and you’ll end up with a bottle destined to turn your stomach.

More than a hint of salt water

The Telegraph has reported that experts were disappointed recently when they cracked open a vintage they found in the wreckage of the Mary-Celestia. They suggested that the bottle, which produced a cloudy yellow liquid, had a bouquet which consisted of sulphur whilst it left a distinct aftertaste; laced with more than a hint of salt water.

The Mary-Celestia was a steamship that sank off the coast of Bermuda in 1864, at the height of the American Civil War. That means that this vintage was 150 years old when it, along with five other bottles, was discovered and retrieved by two divers back in 2011. 

Why did a 150 year old bottle of wine taste so bad?

This leads us to ask, why did a 150 year old vintage taste so bad? We’ve often been told that the older a wine is, the better it is. Furthermore, Paul Roberts, the master sommelier at the ceremonial uncorking of the wine in Charleston, the capital of the US state of West Virginia, noted that he’s had shipwrecked wines before that have retained their heady flavour.

Yet this particularly bottle was discovered inside a locker positioned in the bow of the ship. Essentially it wasn’t stored properly. That allowed sea water to seep into the vintage, ensuring that its taste soured as it aged.

Cautionary tale

Use this story as a cautionary tale. If you buy a fabulous Burgundy or a scintillating Australian wine from the Ideal Wine Company and you plan to keep it for a long time, store it properly. Who knows what’ll happen to it otherwise. 

Five Must-Know Facts about Rhone Wine

If you want to learn more about one of the most prestigious wine making traditions in the world stick around. This week the Ideal Wine Company reveals five must-know facts about Rhone wine.

You Have to Try a Rhone at Some Point in Your Life

Because we’re dedicated to providing you with fine wines from around the world here at the Ideal Wine Company, we had to include vintages from the French region of Rhone on our product list.

It may not be Champagne or Bordeaux, but the South-French region of Rhone has a robust wine-making tradition that goes back as far as before the time of Christ. The region is known for its stellar medium bodied reds which every wine enthusiast needs to take the time to try at some point in their lives.

Five Things You May be Interested to Learn about Rhone Wine Making

Introduce yourself to this proud wine making tradition right now. Check out the following five fascinating facts about Rhone wine…

1)     Its Production Began a Really Long Time Ago: No one knows exactly when viticulture was first introduced to this famously hot French region, but we do know it was a really long time ago. Experts suggest that wine making first came to the Rhone as far back as the 3^rd or 4^th Century B.C.

2)     Its Reds are Out of This World: You can find a decent white from the Rhone but the region is most known for the quality of the reds produced in its vineyards. Grenache, Syrah, and Mourvèdre are the most common red grapes grown in the Southern French region.

3)     It’s Really Popular: Statistics show that 400 million bottles of Rhone Valley AOC vintages were sold in 159 countries around the world in 2012-2013 alone. Considering the fact that someone on this plant enjoys a bottle of Rhone every 13 seconds, it must be pretty popular!

4)      It’s Really Loved by the Americans: As if you needed any more evidence to suggest that our cousins across the pond love a little Vino! The States is the number one export market for Rhone Valley AOC wines, spending a colossal 85.7 million euros on the tipple!

5)      It’s Got a Lot of Flavour: Wines from the Rhone are known for their complex array of dazzling flavours that make each sip as compelling as a glass of the finest Bordeaux. Common flavours include dark fruit, herbs, coffee, and earth.

Buy the Hermitage La Chapelle 1985

In other words you get quality, complexity and a rich wine drinking experience when you buy a luxury vintage from the outstanding French wine making region of Rhone. Try one out for yourself and buy a bottle of Hermitage La Chapelle 1985, a classic Rhone vintage, from the Ideal Wine Company today.

Canberra Fine Wines Grow in Popularity

This week the IdealWine Company asks; what is it about Canberra fine wines that has seen them become the vintage of choice over the past few months?

Australia: The Emerging Wine Hotspot

The Ideal Wine Company strives to bring you a range of fine wines from around the world. As such we feature a variety of vintages from emerging wine hotspot Australia.

Its unique climate, varied landscape and glorious weather make Australia the perfect place to produce a bottle destined to delight the senses and dance on the tongue. Therefore the last few decades have seen the land down under become recognised as one of the world’s key fine wine producers.

The Growing Market for Canberra Wine

According to the Canberra Times, the rise of Australia as a luxury vintage producer has spurred the popularity of bottles from one of its lesser known grape-growing regions. Canberra.

Speaking to producers in the region, the publication discovered that demand for Canberra fine wine has been growing for some time. However the last six months have seen producers stretched to their limit as demand for their product soars and Canberra district wine is labelled “the flavour of the month” amongst those in the know.

“We Have Only 40 Cases of Shiraz Left”

Take Bill Crowe from Four Winds, an up-and-coming Canberra wine producer. He revealed to the Times that his family-run winery near Murrumbateman has had to double production every 12 months since it opened four years ago. Recently he even had to increase space for grape fermentation to stay abreast of demand.

Crowe said: "The first year I got to Four Winds vineyard we would have done around 10 tonnes – this year we are doing 56 tonnes… We have only 40 cases of Shiraz left and we will probably sell out of all these wines before the new ones are on."

“Some of the Best Fine Wines in the World.”

Crowe went on to talk about the growing popularity of the Canberra vintage. Crowe said that the region is “making some of the best wines in the world. The Riesling and Shiraz I've had out here is second to none, and we do other varietals extremely well too." 

These sentiments were echoed by Canberra District Wine Industry Association’s John Leyshon. He suggested that "fine wines are the flavour of the month at the moment... There is an increasing demand for Canberra district wine, and its fine wine." Leyshon went on to comment that "Canberra locals don't know how lucky they are ... they've got some of the best wines in Australia only 30 minutes' drive from their front door."

Try a Bottle of Canberra’s Finest

We wish we were that lucky. From the sounds of things Canberra fine wine has become the vintage of choice for one reason. It’s laced with pure quality. Next time you get the chance, the Ideal Wine Company would suggest that you try a bottle of Canberra’s finest for yourself for see what all the fuss is about. 

What Do You Get When You Mix Wine with a Black Light?

Have you ever found yourself wondering, ‘what do you get when you mix wine with a black light?’ Is so read on, because you might just have your answer. This week the Ideal Wine Company explores a new trend that’s taking over the basements and clubs of LA. The wine rave.

Ideal Wine Company Never Thought We’d Be Breaking out the Glow Sticks!

Who doesn’t remember the 90’s; the decade that bore witness to the rise of the rave? For any of you who blacked out memories of this particular time in party history, a rave was an underground shindig where people bopped along to outlandish trance tunes whilst necking cans of bargain basement booze.

We never really believed that as a provider of outstanding fine wines from around the world at reasonable prices, the Ideal Wine Company would ever have any reason to go to a rave. Yet a new trend that’s taking over LA may just have us breaking out our glow sticks.

A Rave with Better Alcohol

This week saw LA Eater feature an editorial called 6 Things to Know About Wine Raves in LA. The article told us everything we need to know about the party trend that’s sweeping one of the world’s biggest cities; the wine rave.

It’s exactly what you think it is. A wine rave is an underground rave-style party complete with black lights, glow sticks and heady trance tunes… with one small exception. The alcohol that’s used to lubricate its participants is of a much higher standard. Wine raves differentiate themselves from their 90’s forebears by serving wine shots and glowing wine cocktails!

Why Do People Go to Wine Raves?

Wine raves have actually been around for a while. However they started gaining prominence around 2011, when they hit the basements, warehouses and clubs of nearby San Diego. 

So why are they so popular?

We might find our answer from Wineravela.com’s explanation of what you can expect to find when you hit your nearest wine rave. "Wine rave is a state of mind. Can you free yourself from colour; its sensation as pleasure; as life. Stop swirling. Derobe. Become bioluminescent. Feel a stranger. Listen. Laugh and have fun. Wine rave."

Taking Your Love of Wine to a Whole New Level

So what do you get when you mix wine with a black light? As it turns out, a mind blowing experience which allows you to take your love of wine to a whole new level. A bioluminescent level. No wonder wine raves are sweeping LA!