How long has Compass wines been in business?
Compass Wines opened its doors in July 2001. Our focus of wines is primarily boutique wines produced in Washington State; but we also carry wines from around the world. When we opened our primary focus was to provide excellent customer experience. Whether you are new to wine and or a seasoned collector, we have wines to fit your requests. Our primary operations are a brick and mortar wine shop serving customers around the country. Beginning in July 2020, we began selling a select range of both craft spirits and hard to find spirits.
Ordering
If I see a wine or spirit on the website, does that mean it's really in stock?
Yes! Unlike ‘virtual retailers’ that simply list every wine or spirit in every catalog that is dropped on their door, then wait to order until you do, hoping the wine or spirit is actually in stock or even the same vintage, we purchase all of our products up front and have them in stock. Our web page will not list wines that we do not have in inventory. The exception to this is the rare occurrence that more than one person orders the same wine at the same time, before our site updates. If this happens, we will notify you before processing your order to see if you would like us to hunt the wine down for you or suggest an alternative vintage or wine.
Is there an age requirement to buy wine on the website?
Duh! You must be 21 to order, pay or take delivery of your wine. By placing an order, you are certifying that you are 21 years of age and a 21 year old must take delivery and sign for your wine when it arrives.
Do you have case discounts?
Yes! We offer 10% off of any case of 12 or more bottles, whether it is the same wine or mixed. We offer 15% off of all orders of 5 cases or more. For massive amounts of wine, give us a call and we will sharpen our pencils! Unfortunatley our system doesn't calculate the discount at checkout, but rest assured we will apply the discount when we process your order. We do not discount spirits.
Do you have order minimums?
No! One bottle is plenty for us, as we know that sometimes, that is all you want. We have actually delivered wine in a 40 ft container before, so obviously there is no maximum either.
How do I know what size the wine bottle is?
Every bottle of wine is 750ml in size, unless otherwise noted. Errors sometime happen, when in doubt, please ask.
Can I make changes to my order after I place one?
Yes, but with some limits. If your order has not yet been shipped, there is no problem altering it and unlike other retailers, we do not charge a ‘restocking fee’. Once an order is shipped, shipping costs have already been assessed and there is an additional shipping fee of $16 for UPS to reroute your shipment. Since we don't store your credit card data, we'll have to speak with you over the phone to get payment details.
What if an item is out of stock or the wrong year is displayed?
If a wine ends up being out of stock, you will not be charged for the wine and if for some reason your card has already been charged, we will refund your money unless otherwise instructed. If you would like us to order an out of stock wine and we can still get it, we will charge your card accordingly. We consider vintage changes to be the same as ‘out of stock’ and will contact you before charging your card. We make every effort to make sure the vintages shown on the text portion of the site are accurate. Sometimes, the image of the bottle may show a previous vintage, so the text which is displayed is the vintage that we actually have in stock.
Is there a restocking fee for cancelling my order?
We do not charge a restocking fee for the wine on a cancelled order. However, once a bottle has been shipped, the shipping charges are not refundable including the return charges for having wine shipped back to us. We do reserve the right charge a %5 fee credit card fee if you decide to cancel for any reason.
If I don’t like or want the wine, what can I do?
Wine is not like other commodities purchased on line for legal reasons. It is against state and federal laws to return a bottle of wine once you have taken possession of it just because you changed your mind or don’t like it, unless it is clearly spoiled and unsaleable. The legal authorities look at returns in the same manner as if we are buying the wine from an unlicensed seller. However, if a bottle is clearly spoiled upon delivery, corked (TCA, not crumbly cork) or has damage upon delivery from heat or cold, we will take it back as ‘unsaleable’. Please contact us as soon as possible if this occurs. A bottle must be returned within one week for spoilage issues. Truly corked wines can always be returned, regardless of how long you have had them, but the determination of TCA needs to be made by us after it is returned. Dumping it down the drain first does not count. Industry standards for the warranty of aged wines is 5 years from the bottling dates. We take pride in our storage here as we have never turned the heat on in this building since we opened nearly 15 years ago, so we guarantee the soundness of all bottles up to 10 years past the vintage date. We cannot be held responsible for wines once they enter your cellar, no matter how sophisticated the system is, so please inspect your bottles carefully upon delivery and notify us immediately if there are any problems.
Shipping
How much does shipping cost?
Shipping charges are calculated based on the weights of the wines you order. We don't charge a premium or handling fee for your shipment. We work closely with UPS in Washington State and an independant wine specialty shipper for the rest of the United States to ensure we are getting the best rates possible to minimize the cost of shipping. It costs a bit more, as by law, the driver must obtain a signature and veify the reciepent is at least 21 years old.
When will my wine arrive?
Delivery inside Washington state normally 1-3 days when we ship via UPS GROUND. If you are located outside Washington state your wine can take 3-4 weeks to arrive. Sorry. We will endeavour to get your wine on it's way as soon as we can, but the newly enforced compliance issues have added significant delays. During the hotter and colder months it can take a bit longer to get your shipment, in order to keep your wine or spirits safe from weather conditions.
How will my wines be shipped?
We typically try to ship all of our wines out 1x week, this reduces your cost of shipping. We ship daily inside Washington State. Out of state orders can take 3-4 weeks. We cannot ship via USPS and cannot ship to PO Boxes. Someone 21 years of age or older must be present to sign for your packages. The carrier cannot just ‘leave it on the porch’ for obvious legal and security reasons. WE RECCOMEND HAVING WINE DELIVERED TO YOUR PLACE OF BUSINESS AS THE CHANCES OF IT BEING DELIVERED ON THE FIRST ATTEMPT AND ADULT SIGNATURE CAPTURED ARE MUCH HIGHER.
Will you hold my wine until the weather gets better?
Yes! We know you want your wine as soon as possible, but we want to insure that it gets there safe and sound, so we will hold your bottles for you in our secure storage area until the timing is right, at no extra charge, often this is just when temperatures are severe. We'll keep you notified if there are any significant delays.
What kind of shipping material do you use?
We ship our wines in UPS approved pressed pulp wine shippers that are 100% recyclable. In some cases we will reuse the shippers instead of tossing them out.
Do you ship to all 50 states?
In a nutshell, no. Each state has its own laws in regards to shipping and they change all the time. Please e-mail us if you have specific questions about your state. Currently, 10/7/22, we ship to all states except the following:
AL|AR|MI|MS|SD|UT Sorry for the inconvienence, as much as we would love to ship you wine, individual state laws govern inbound shipments.
Can I pick my wine up at the store if I order it online?
Absolutely!
If nobody is around to sign for my shipment, what do I do?
The carrier cannot leave your wine without an adult signature. Many of our customers have their wines shipped to their workplace to insure there is somebody to receive it when it arrives. We often reccomend having the wine delivered to your office or workplace as the chances of someone being there when UPS/Regional Carrier arrives is much greater. The Carrier will often make 3 attempts. If no one is available it will be returned to us at your expense
My wine must arrive by a certain date. Can you arrange that?
Yes, within reason. We are limited by the pickup and delivery times of UPS and FedEx and our out of state carriers and by the weather. We will certainly do our best, but there are limits! Since it now takes significantly more time to get your wine to you, please plan ahead. Sorry, we'd get it there faster if we could.
Searching
How do I find wines that have been rated by Parker, Wine Spectator and others?
Wines with scores of 90 points and higher from Robert Parker (RP), the Wine Spectator (WS), Wine Enthusiast (WE), Steven Tanzer (VIN), and some other publications have been listed to the best of our knowledge. To find wines with specific scores, use our 'Search' box a the top of the page. You can simply type 95 for example, and any wine with 95 will appear in the search results.New scores are coming out all the time, so we do our best to keep up, but some may inadvertently be omitted or not yet entered.
How do I search for a particular winery, i.e. Leonetti?
Simply type as much of the name as you can remember into the search bar at the top of the page. Otherwise, you can also scroll through the region that the winery is from, if you know it, to see what other wines you may be interested in besides the one you are looking for.
How do I search for a particular type of wine, i.e. Cabernet Sauvignon?
Type the name of the grape, appellation or vineyard you are looking for in the search bar at the top of the page. That should do the trick. If the search isn't giving you a result, try adding an asterik in front and behind at least one word of the wine. For example *Lione* for Leonetti.
Can I search for wines using descriptive words like fruity, dry, oak, tannins, etc?
We are not able to search wine by subjective descriptors as we all have different opinions about how wines taste and those would have needed to be added to the description of each wine. If you are looking for more search capabilites, try clicking on the magnifying glass at the top of the home page. This will allow you to narrow down your search by Vintage, Region or Producer. Still can't find what you are looking for? Try emailing us your request and we'll endeavour to locate the wine for you. As we mentioned above, we only display items we have in stock as to not lead you down a potential road of disappointment when a certain wine or vintage of has run out.