Terms & Conditions

This website is operated by Woodland Hills Wine Company (WHWC). Your use of this website is governed by these terms and conditions. Please take a few minutes to review these terms and conditions. Your use of the whwc.com website constitutes your agreement to follow these rules and to be bound by them. If you do not agree with any of these terms and conditions, do not use the whwc.com website. WHWC reserves the right to update or modify these terms and conditions at any time without prior notice. Your use of the whwc.com website following any such change constitutes your agreement to follow and be bound by the terms and conditions as changed. For this reason, we encourage you to review these terms and conditions whenever you use this website.

All of the content you see on this website, including documents, images, and HTML formatting are subject to trademark, service mark, trade dress, copyright and/or other intellectual property rights or licenses held by WHWC, and may not be reused or copied without permission.

Online orders do not require customers to register an account with Woodland Hills Wine Company. Guest checkout is permitted, although NOT for orders containing Pre-Arrival items. However, we recommend creating an account, because this will allow you to save personal information to expedite future orders, as well as review your order history, order status and shipment tracking numbers. Registered customers who place an order online are able to view your entire order history with us (both online and offline) since January 1, 2009. New Customers may register for an account on the My Account page or may do so during the billing details step of the checkout process. To register, new customers will be asked to provide an email address, which will act as your WHWC username, and to create an account password. We also ask you to provide your name, billing address, and telephone number, as well as preferences regarding our newsletter and email alerts. Register here

Woodland Hills Wine Company is firmly committed to the privacy of your personal information and the security of your online transactions. We never share or sell to outside parties any of the personal information you provide us. If you choose to participate in our email alerts program to receive offers of interest to you, you are always free to change your preferences or "opt out" of these mailings. Your credit card information is safe when you order on our website. At WHWC, we make every effort and use the very latest technology to ensure the security of your transactions. Safeguards in place secure the information we collect online, prevent unauthorized access or disclosure, maintain data accuracy and ensure the appropriate use of information. Our powerful Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) encryption technology protects sensitive information from unauthorized parties. SSL encrypts your credit card number, name, address and phone number before it travels over the Internet. If you are still not comfortable releasing your credit card information on our website, you may place your order by phone at (800) 678-9463 or fax at (818) 222-3999. For more, see our full Privacy/Security policy.

Wines and other alcoholic beverages may be sold and delivered only to persons over the age of 21. BY ORDERING FROM THIS WEBSITE, YOU AFFIRM THAT YOU ARE AT LEAST 21 YEARS OLD. Woodland Hills Wine Company makes every effort to ensure that alcoholic beverages are not delivered to anyone who is under the age of 21. ALL ALCOHOLIC BEVERAGES THAT WE SHIP ON YOUR BEHALF MUST BE RECEIVED AND SIGNED FOR BY AN ADULT OF LEGAL DRINKING AGE. WE ENCOURAGE YOU TO DELIVER TO A BUSINESS ADDRESS TO REDUCE THE LIKELIHOOD OF FAILED DELIVERY. If the wine is returned to us for failure to provide positive proof of age, the customer is responsible for paying all related shipping charges.

No order shall be considered confirmed until a customer's credit card (or other means of payment) has been processed and an email or written receipt/invoice has been provided. For online orders, we will initially send you an order acknowledgment to let you know that we have received your order. No payment is processed until quantities are confirmed and your order is picked and packed. At that time, usually within 24 hours of your order, we will send you an email order confirmation (and, if applicable, shipment confirmation). All orders are subject to our acceptance, and we may refuse any order at our discretion.

Except for orders placed and cancelled on the same business day, we must impose a 10% processing fee on cancelled orders paid for by credit card in order to recoup transaction and overhead costs. With any cancellation or change, please let us know as soon as possible, preferably by phone at 1-800-678-9463. In order to avoid a cancellation fee, you must obtain a verbal or written acknowledgment from us noting that we have received your cancellation request by the end of the same business day on which the order was originally placed. Note that special orders and pre-arrival orders are not cancellable.

WHWC is committed to ensuring our customers' satisfaction with our products and service. If we made an error by sending you an incorrect wine, or if you received a corked or otherwise flawed wine, please call us immediately at 1-800-678-9463 or email us, providing your order number and explaining the reasons for your dissatisfaction. We will review the specific circumstances on an individual basis, and make a determination in a timely manner of whether the return request meets acceptable criteria. Should we accept responsibility for the error or flaw, we will either exchange the bottle(s) or issue a refund for the applicable amount. We do not accept returns after 30 days.

Under California law, we are not allowed to accept returns of wine or other alcoholic beverages if you change your mind on an order, do not like a wine, want to return a gift, or if you overbought and want to return excess wine from a previous purchase.

Neither we nor the shipping companies we contract on your behalf to deliver your wine insure against weather-related damage that may occur in transit, and we do not accept returns due to such possible damage that may arise after your wine has safely left our store. See our Weather Advisory for more detail.

Applicable Los Angeles County sales tax of 9.5% is added to all orders shipped or delivered within the state of California. All orders shipped to states outside California are not subject to California state sales tax. However, all orders picked up at our retail store are subject to California sales tax, even if it was not charged at time of order. Note that any new governmental taxes incurred subsequent to order will also be charged at date of shipment or pickup.

Orders of "in stock" wines (as well as the "in stock" portion of orders that include both "in stock" and "pre-arrival" wines) are generally processed and shipped within 24 hours. Special shipping requests—including rush orders, international deliveries, requests to ship original wood cases, etc.—should be made by phone (preferred), email, or through the "Order Notes/Special Instructions" field in the Shipping Details page (step 1) of the online checkout process.

Wines classified as futures or pre-arrivals are available for customer purchase now, but are not currently physically in stock at our store ready for shipment. Depending on the item, they may arrive into our inventory within anywhere from a few weeks to 3 years (in the case of Bordeaux futures). We can provide you with estimated arrival times for particular wines by phone (800-678-9463) or email. Since estimated time of arrival for all pre-arrivals is never known with certainty, we cannot guarantee availability by a certain date and we cannot be held liable for delays in pre-arrival deliveries.

Wine and/or other alcoholic beverages sold by WHWC may be subject to laws, rules, or restrictions governing importation, including duties, tariffs, permits, rates, schedules, taxes, and preliminary statements, as they may be amended, adjusted, increased, renegotiated, replaced or restated from time to time (herein "Import Duties").

Buyer is solely responsible for any and all Import Duties that may apply to any purchase of wine and/or alcoholic beverages, including those Import Duties in effect after the Buyer purchases the wine and/or alcoholic beverage but prior to the importation of the wine and/or alcoholic beverage.

We accept international orders for many countries, and can provide a quote for international shipping upon request. Be aware that there may be additional duties, taxes, and tariffs based on your destination country. You are responsible for determining your customs charges, and they will be due COD upon delivery in your country. Contact us for more information—by phone at +1-818-222-1111 or by email.

For the convenience of both local and non-local customers, we offer a choice of stored-value cards—either an electronic gift certificate or a physical, credit-card size gift card. The customer is free to choose any denomination, which will be applied to the stored-value card and made available for immediate use at WHWC for purchase of any products or services we offer. Upon purchase, the customer must identify a recipient's name, which becomes attached to the gift card's unique serial number. THE CARD OR CERTIFICATE SHOULD BE TREATED LIKE CASH, SO PLEASE KEEP IT IN A SAFE PLACE. If the card or certificate is lost or stolen, you should contact us immediately so that we may place a "hold" on the card and issue you a new one. The service charge for a card replacement is $10. NO REFUNDS ARE PERMITTED FOR GIFT CARDS; THEY MUST BE APPLIED TOWARDS PURCHASES OF MERCHANDISE OR SERVICES.

In obtaining older vintage wines, it is WHWC's practice to deal with reputable suppliers where the wine's provenance is not in question. However, given the inherent limits to our ability to guarantee the condition of older wines, and consistent with industry norms, we must inform you that wines that are five years old or more are purchased at the buyer's risk. If there is a problem with a particular wine, we would appreciate you letting us know whether we should be concerned about a potential broader issue with a given producer or supplier.

WHWC does not permit sales to other retailers.

WHWC requires that the customer's billing address match the billing address associated with the credit card used for payment of an order. If necessary, please update your billing address during checkout to match the address on file with your credit card issuer.

Our carriers levy a small surcharge for delivery to residential addresses. The customer is responsible for correctly identifying address type (residence or business); charge-backs that we receive from our carriers due to incorrect identification by the customer will be billed back to the customer. If a customer provides incorrect shipping address information which causes a failed delivery attempt, our primary carriers UPS and FedEx charge a $14 PENALTY PER PACKAGE for address corrections, which will also be billed back to the customer.

Although we try to avoid mistakes, they do occasionally happen. We reserve the right to correct pricing errors and to change prices without notice.

Many states have laws prohibiting or severely restricting the shipment of wine into their states from elsewhere in the country. Therefore, unfortunately we are not able to ship wine or other alcoholic beverages—and our website will not accept orders with shipping addresses—to the following states: Arkansas, Kentucky, Mississippi, Michigan and Utah.

All wines are sold in California and title passes to buyer in California. We make no representation as to the legal right of anyone to ship or import wines into any state or country outside of California. By placing an order with us, you authorize WHWC to act on your behalf to engage a common carrier to deliver your order to you. If you wish to ship to another state, you assume all responsibility for determining whether you may lawfully import alcoholic beverages into that state. As interstate shipping laws are constantly changing, you may want to check with the appropriate agency in your state or county. See here for more. Our acknowledgment of an order is not a guarantee that we will ultimately be able to ship wine to you. If we are unable to ship wine to the state you request, we will notify you before processing your order to determine whether you wish to proceed.

Prolonged exposure to heat and freezing temperatures can damage wine. CARRIERS DO NOT INSURE AGAINST HEAT OR COLD DAMAGE, AND WE ARE UNABLE TO TAKE RESPONSIBILITY FOR SUCH DAMAGES AFTER YOUR WINE HAS SAFELY LEFT OUR STORE. YOU ARE SOLELY RESPONSIBLE FOR DETERMINING WHEN AND BY WHAT METHOD YOU WISH US TO DELIVER YOUR ORDER—SO BE AWARE OF WEATHER CONDITIONS BEFORE SHIPPING AN ORDER. That being said, we do reserve the right to withhold an order if we have clear reason to believe weather conditions are severe enough to significantly endanger the safety of your wine. In such a case, we will notify you promptly and discuss alternatives. Except for deliveries on the West Coast, WE ENCOURAGE YOU TO SELECT FEDEX OVERNIGHT OR FEDEX 2DAY AS YOUR SHIPPING METHOD DURING THE WINTER OR SUMMER MONTHS, in order to reduce the likelihood of weather-related damage to your wine. In winter and summer we generally do not ship on Fridays, since carriers hold shipments over the weekends in their warehouses, where storage conditions may be far from ideal for temperature-sensitive products such as wine.

As a courtesy to local customers (greater Los Angeles area, including Ventura County), WHWC will hold your order in will call at our store, where it should be available for pickup within 24 to 48 hours. By selecting this option, you will be charged for the items in your shopping cart upon order confirmation. WILL CALL ORDERS MUST BE PICKED UP WITHIN 6 WEEKS OF THE ORDER DATE (ARRIVAL NOTIFICATION DATE IN THE CASE OF PRE-ARRIVAL WINES), AFTER WHICH TIME WE RESERVE THE RIGHT TO ASSESS STORAGE FEES OR CANCEL THE ORDER (FOR STORE CREDIT) AT OUR DISCRETION. Our liability in such cases is limited to the original transaction price, and not the then-current replacement value of the wine(s) in question. CUSTOMERS' WINE IS NOT INSURED BY US WHILE BEING STORED BY WHWC, SO WE CANNOT BE HELD LIABLE IF WINES BEING HELD BY US ARE DAMAGED DUE TO AN ACT OF GOD OR ANY CAUSE BEYOND THE REASONABLE CONTROL OF WHWC. WHWC is a retail business, not a storage facility, and our space constraints limit our ability to hold wines for customers without adversely affecting our retail operations. Therefore, we appreciate your adherence to our strict storage policies. We can provide you with referrals to several reputable, local wine storage facilities if you require their services.

As a courtesy to non-local customers (outside of greater Los Angeles area, including Ventura County), if weather conditions are unfavorable for the safe transport of your wine at the time of order, you may elect to have us hold your order by selecting "Hold for Future Shipment" during checkout. By selecting this option, you will be charged for the items in your shopping cart upon order confirmation. WE WILL NOT HOLD WINES FOR THE SAKE OF CONVENIENCE, BUT ONLY FOR EXTREME WEATHER CONDITIONS. "HOLD" WINES MUST BE SHIPPED WITHIN 4 MONTHS OF THE ORDER DATE (ARRIVAL NOTIFICATION DATE IN THE CASE OF PRE-ARRIVAL WINES), AFTER WHICH TIME WE RESERVE THE RIGHT TO ASSESS STORAGE FEES OR CANCEL THE ORDER (FOR STORE CREDIT) AT OUR DISCRETION. Our liability in such cases is limited to the original transaction price, and not the then-current replacement value of the wine(s) in question. CUSTOMERS' WINE IS NOT INSURED BY US WHILE BEING STORED BY WHWC, SO WE CANNOT BE HELD LIABLE IF WINES BEING HELD BY US ARE DAMAGED DUE TO AN ACT OF GOD OR ANY CAUSE BEYOND THE REASONABLE CONTROL OF WHWC. WHWC is a retail business, not a storage facility, and our space constraints limit our ability to hold wines for customers without adversely affecting our retail operations. Therefore, we appreciate your adherence to our strict storage policies. We can provide you with referrals to several reputable, local wine storage facilities if you require their services.

DISTILLED SPIRITS MAY ONLY BE SHIPPED TO ADDRESSES WITHIN THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA. Our website will not allow you to complete an order which contains spirits items if you attempt to ship the order to another state. Be advised that accurate shipping rates for orders including spirits can only be provided at time of shipping. Certain odd-shaped spirits bottles cannot be safely packed, in which case we will contact you for further instructions.

Our shipping rates include the cost of insulated foam shipping containers. ESTIMATED SHIPPING RATES ARE PROVIDED AT CHECKOUT BASED ON SHIPPING ADDRESS, SHIPPING METHOD, AND NUMBER OF BOTTLES (IN STOCK) IN YOUR ORDER. Alternatively, you may preview estimated shipping rates by viewing our Shipping Estimator. Actual shipping charges are determined at the time of shipment, and may differ from estimated shipping rates due to factors not taken into account by our automated shipping estimator. For example, due to their heavier weight, sparkling wines (and, increasingly, some non-sparkling wines which come in heavier bottles) are charged an additional $1.00 per bottle above the estimates provided. Our shipping estimator is not set up to recognize price differences for bottles smaller than 750ml in size, but the actual rates incurred for these bottles (500ml, 375ml, 300ml, etc.) are typically lower than those for 750ml bottles, and we will pass along these savings to you. Also, shipping charges for unusual bottle sizes cannot be accurately estimated in advance. ACTUAL SHIPPING CHARGES ARE INCLUDED IN THE ORDER CONFIRMATION EMAIL WE SEND TO YOU UPON SHIPMENT.

Insurance coverage (optional) is available for 0.75% of the total purchase price of your order, and covers any loss due to breakage or theft that may occur while your order is in the possession of a common carrier. It does not cover damage resulting from extreme hot or cold temperatures during transit. While shipping insurance is optional, declining coverage releases WHWC of all liability associated with breakage or loss that may occur to your order during shipment. If you have opted for insurance coverage and you receive damaged merchandise, you must notify WHWC of any broken or damaged bottles within two days of delivery so that we may process your claim with the carrier.

Any special shipping requests—including rush orders, international deliveries, requests to ship original wood cases, etc.—should be made by phone (preferred), email, or through the "Order Notes/Special Instructions" field in the Shipping Details page (step 1) of the online checkout process.

We will ship the original wood case (if applicable) upon your special request. Please note this in the "Order Notes/Special Instructions" field in the Shipping Details page (step 1) of the online checkout process.