Purchasing and Shipping Wine Legally

You must be 21 years of age to purchase and/or receive wine from us.

Premier Cru can only ship to states where it is legal to ship alcoholic beverages. If you live in a state which is not legal to ship alcoholic beverages, please provide an alternative shipping address in a legal state, or the address of a "third party" storage facility (taxes will be applied as appropriate).

A complete list of the states and their shipping restrictions is included on this page. We can also hold your shipment for a limited time for you to pick up at our retail location, located minutes from downtown San Francisco. See special sales tax note below.

Any wine sold to you by Premier Cru is sold in California, and title passes to you, the buyer, in California. All orders are shipped by a licensed California wine retailer. The buyer is solely responsible for the shipment of wine. We make no representations concerning your legal right to ship or receive wine into any state outside California or any country outside the United States. By placing any wine order with Premier Cru, you authorize Premier Cru to act on your behalf to engage a common carrier to deliver your order to your selected destination.

Sales Tax: We must collect sales tax for shipments to the following states:

California - 9.75%
New Hampshire - 8%

Note that any order delivered to a wine storage facility based in one of those states must be charged the appropriate sales tax.

All orders picked up at Premier Cru's store (and not shipped by a licensed carrier to an out of state destination) must be charged 9.75% sales tax regardless of where the purchaser resides or where the wine will be taken.

Returns and Cancellations:

There will be a 15% restocking/cancellation fee enforced for any order that is cancelled by the customer, including pre-arrival orders.

By law, we are only able to accept returns on wines purchased in error. After the wine has been in your possession for at least six months, we are unable to accept returns for any reason. We do not accept any returns on bottles that have been opened.

Pricing Errors:

Prices are subject to change without notice. Premier Cru is not responsible for pricing errors that may occur on our website from time to time.

Pre-Arrival Wines versus In-Stock Wines:

The term "Pre-Arrival" is applied to wines we have purchased (typically abroad) that have not arrived yet. Depending on the particular wine, the arrival time is typically 6+ months to over two years (in the case of Bordeaux Futures, for example).

Many new releases of highly desirable, limited-production wines (ie - Burgundy, Rhone, Italian, etc.) are offered on a "Pre-Arrival" basis by our suppliers. These offerings typically take 6 to 18 months to arrive and are often the only way to source the wines before they sell out (and at optimal prices). We send an email notification when your wines arrive.

States We Ship To:

Below is a list of the states that we can ship to at the present time:

AZ, CA, CO, CT, DC, GA, HI, IA, ID, IL, LA, MO, NC, ND, NE, NM, NV, NY, OH, OR, SC, TX, VA, WA, WI, WV, WY.

This list is subject to change without notice.

States We Don't Ship To:

If you live in a state other than one listed above, we encourage you to contact your state representatives and ask them to change their laws and allow you to enjoy the same rights as wine lovers in other states.

In the meantime, we suggest that you consider contracting with a professional wine storage facility. If you transfer wines purchased to a storage facility in California, you are required to pay CA sales tax.

Age Verification:

You must be at least 21 years of age or older to buy wine. By placing an order with Premier Cru, whether through our website, over the phone or in person, you certify under penalty of perjury that you and the recipient are at least 21 years old. When the wine is delivered, the recipient will be required to show identification proving that he or she is at least 21 years old. The willful misrepresentation of your age or the age of the recipient is a crime in most states, and if it appears to us or to the authorities that you have done so, we will cooperate with the authorities to prosecute you to the fullest extent of the law.

Adult Signature Required:

Because of strict alcoholic beverage laws in the states to which we can legally ship wine, an adult must be present to sign for your wine order. For this reason, we encourage you to use a business address, if possible, where an adult is present during business hours. Neither we nor the shipping companies we use are authorized to accept a "signature on file" or leave a wine package at the door or with a neighbor. Shipping to a business address will also minimize the chance that a delivery will be attempted when no one is there, resulting in the wine spending more time in delivery trucks and warehouses, where it can be exposed to temperature extremes.

Shipping Companies:

Currently, we only ship via UPS, FedEx and DHL. These companies accept wine shipments and are committed to delivering them legally. It is not legal to ship wine via the US Postal Service. We can also ship by common carrier (truck), which makes sense for larger shipments, as you can then receive your wine in its original box. Please call for more information.

No PO Boxes:

A street address must be provided, since UPS, FedEx and DHL are unable to deliver to PO Boxes. You should also provide a daytime phone number for the recipient's location, so we or the shipping company can reach you if necessary.