Weather threatens Christmas wine deliveries

Wine delivery firms are gearing up for a battle with the elements to ensure all Christmas delivery commitments are met as Britain prepares for a fresh onslaught of snow and ice.

Companies such as Laithwaites and Virgin Wines have warned customers they face potential disappointment as they face up to the task of clearing the backlog caused by the wintery weather a couple of weeks ago on top of ensuring recent orders are delivered on time for 25 December.

A statement on the Laithwaites website said: “Early widespread snow and ice has challenged our delivery operation during the busy run up to Christmas.

“Our warehouse is despatching very quickly and our carriers are working long hours, seven days a week, to ensure that orders are delivered as quickly as possible.

“Where we have promised that your order will be delivered in time for Christmas, we and our carriers will do all that we can to ensure this happens.

“With more snow forecast for Thursday 16 December and beyond, we may still face some delivery challenges in the days before Christmas.”

Laithwaites said that its operations in Scotland had been particularly badly affected by the weather, with only orders placed by the end of 9 December expected to be delivered by Christmas. However, Laithwaites does not even guarantee these orders will be met, saying only: “Our carriers are working very hard to ensure this happens.”

Deliveries to parts of Yorkshire and Lincolnshire are also suffering due to the backlog caused by the snow and ice and the company says deliveries to the region are “still taking longer than normal”, though it says that all orders placed by the end of Friday 17 December should be delivered in time for Christmas.

Deliveries to the rest of the UK are currently taking about one week from order, but with snow forecasted to blanket much of the country again by the end of the week this is subject to change.

Virgin Wines carries a message saying: “The recent weather conditions are affecting some of our deliveries so please allow extra time for your wine to arrive.”

It has set a deadline of tomorrow (Thursday 16 December) for orders from Scotland and 20 December for England and Wales to guarantee Christmas delivery. The deadline for deliveries to the Scottish Highlands, Islands and Northern Ireland has already passed.

Naked Wines is more optimistic and, at the time of writing, is still guaranteeing delivery for orders placed up until 23 December in England and Wales, with a deadline of 17 December for orders placed in Scotland.

A spokesperson for Naked Wines told the drinks business the company has “pretty much cleared the backlog” caused by the recent adverse weather and added key customers “have been kept fully up-to-date” with the status of deliveries.

Alan Lodge, 15.12.2010