pop & pour

By Peter Vetsch

This blog is first and foremost a public service vehicle.  It exists to connect people with wine, especially people in the Calgary area.  Normally the connection sought is an intellectual or emotional one, as we endeavour to share our knowledge and passion about this liquid art that inspires so much within us.  We generally don’t have to worry about establishing a physical connection with wine, because, well, when can’t you get access to wine?

Er.  About that.

It turns out you can’t get access to wine when a fast-spreading, highly contagious, novel and potentially lethal monster pathogen is wreaking global havoc and you’re confined to your house, flattening the curve and hoping that your cellar can last for the duration.  It turns out that you can’t get access to wine when wine shops across the city are closing their doors to help preserve public health.  In these times when the path to accessing wine is no longer a given, the best connection to wine that we can offer people is the kind that actually literally puts a bottle of wine in their hands.  Luckily, Calgary’s local wine industry is way ahead of us on that front.

Below is a list of all of the wine shops in the city who are offering home bottle delivery as we all strive to survive quarantine during the COVID-19 epidemic.  We will aim to keep it updated as this era of social distancing and transmission prevention continues, so if you see any shops missing or note any required corrections, drop us a line or leave us a comment and we’ll make the fix.  Where applicable, we will also set out any prices or conditions associated with each store’s delivery option.

YYC COVID-19 WINE DELIVERY SURVIVAL GUIDE

No Strings Attached

The following shops offer unfettered local delivery with no additional fees or qualifications.  This does not mean that it would be a great idea to have someone huff out across the city to deliver a single bottle of $13 Pinot Grigio, just that these stores are trying to make it as easy and barrier-free as possible to get wines to you.

Richmond Hill Wines:  Free Calgary-wide contactless delivery, with no minimum purchase requirement and 10% off purchases of 6 bottles or more, “for the foreseeable future”.  You can check out RHW’s whole inventory on their Cornervine site and order online, by phone or by email.

Market Wines:  Free local delivery arranged within 48 hours of a call from the shop to confirm your order.  Market’s website contains an impressive full e-commerce platform, but if you need help with your selections you can also order by phone.

J-Webb Wine Merchant:  While there is limited information currently online or on social media about this, J-Webb is also offering free delivery on all orders within the Calgary city limits with no minimum purchase required.  Order by phone or via Cornervine.

Brittania Wine Merchants:  Free delivery citywide with no minimum purchase; deliveries are made every Friday, although other drop-off days can be scheduled if needed.  As a nice touch, Brittania is also offering 15% off to any teachers, medical staff and hospitality employees (with proper ID).

Free Delivery with Minimum Purchase

Vine Arts:  Jeff Delivers!  Vine Arts co-founder Jeff Jamieson is personally offering next-day delivery (where possible) across Calgary, free of charge on orders over $100 and at a small fee ($10) for smaller orders.  Access the full inventory of both VA shops and place orders on Cornervine, or order by phone or email.  As an astute commenter has noted, you can also order a limited selection of Vine Arts’ offerings through Spud.ca to complement (or replace) a home-delivered box of fresh groceries.

Kensington Wine Market:  Free citywide delivery on all orders over $50, with the target delivery window within 72 hours of purchase.  KWM was one of the first local shops with a full built-in e-commerce site (including their hyper-elite whisky selection), but you can equally order by phone.

Metrovino:  One of the first shops to proactively close its doors to foot traffic during the pandemic, with a dedicated portion of its webpage dedicated to COVID-19 protocols, Metrovino has recently upgraded its delivery options to provide for free delivery within Calgary on all orders $100 or more.  I am presuming that their prior delivery regime ($20 delivery to the inner city / $35 delivery anywhere else) continues to apply to sub-$100 orders.  A smaller selection of Metro’s inventory is also awesomely available via Skip The Dishes!  Check out their Cornervine for the full suite of wines available and order there, via email or by phone.

Vine Styles:  Free delivery across Calgary on orders above $100, with this minimum purchase requirement waived for Hillhurst or Sunnyside residents near the shop.  Contact them by phone or email and they will also put together curated wine packs based on your budget and personal vinous preferences.

Highlander Wine:  Free delivery of online orders over $100, with fully automated time slot selection as part of the checkout process.  For smaller purchases, the delivery charge is $10.

Northmount Liquor Store:  Free delivery for orders over $50 where the delivery address is within 10km from the shop (which is in northwest Calgary, near the south end of Nose Hill Park).  For smaller or out-of-range purchases, the delivery fee is $9 for next-day delivery city-wide.

Zyn:  Zyn may be one of the few local shops known most for its online purchasing platform.  It offers free local delivery on all orders of $350 or more.

Delivery for a Small Surcharge

Willow Park:  Flat $8 local Calgary delivery fee on any order, with online time slot selection (3-hour window) built into the shop’s full e-commerce platform for purchases.  There is also a dedicated person named Kate ready to receive phone orders (according to the WP website at least).

The Cellar:  $10 delivery across Calgary on all orders, with delivery aimed to occur the same day or the next day.  There is a limited selection of wines available online, but more accessible by calling or emailing the shop.

5 Vines:  Same-day delivery for orders placed in the morning, with couriers costing $10-$15 depending on distance from the store.  Call or email to place an order, although there is a text-only list of available products on the shop’s website to assist with selection.

Craft Cellars:  Craft is the only shop I have seen so far offering flat-rate delivery across all of ALBERTA, at a price of $19.99 for up to 6 bottles.  There is a limited-time (expires March 24th) offer of free provincial shipping on orders over $150.

Other Delivery Options

Bricks Wine Company:  The team at Bricks is happy to discuss possible delivery on a case-by-case basis depending on the order and on staff availability.  They are also collaborating with local natural wine agent extraordinaire Juice Imports to offer curated Juice wine packs, personally hand-selected by the owners of Juice themselves, to suit your budget, preferences and wildest dreams; these Juice boxes are then delivered for free to your home.  Fun times.

It’s easy in scary circumstances, especially ones where you are directed to hide away and isolate, to take a step back from your community.  But Calgary’s wine community is doing what it can to keep you connected, safely and securely.  Your local businesses need you more than ever and are changing how they operate to make themselves more available — try to support them as best you can!