FAQ

Absolutely. We offer wines for sale that are already in our warehouse, as well as wines for sale when they become available from the winery before they leave the premises. As long as there is stock available on our site, you can place an order and we’ll manage the rest.

For more information please see our guide to buying en primeur

You don’t need to have an account, but we will need to know some details to ensure we can fulfill the order for you. In particular, we’ll ask your name, address and a phone number, as well as your means of payment.

We’ll also ask if you are happy to hear from us again. Your privacy is important to us and we will not share your details with anyone else.

We accept all major credit cards: Visa, Mastercard, Maestro & American Express.

You can also make payment with a cheque or via Bank Transfer.

If you would like to make a payment in Sterling our bank account details are:

Barclays Bank Business Centre
Baker Street Branch
93 Baker Street
London
W1A 4SD

In order for us to efficiently process your order, please quote your account number or an order reference.

You can indeed send a gift message and you’ll find an option to do so as part of the order process online, or please request to do so over the phone.

Please note that the gift card will be sent separately from the wine, letting the lucky recipient know that a delivery is on its way.

As a leading fine wine merchant we understand the importance of provenance and take every step to ensure that our customers can be entirely confident about the wine’s shipping and storage history. The vast majority of the wines we sell have been stored at our bonded warehouse since their arrival from the winery, and if they haven’t been we will confirm so as well.

We can also provide a condition report on request.

From current offers to one of the most comprehensive ranges of fine and rare wines available in the UK, you will find pretty much all of the wines we have available for sale on our website. Very occasionally those wines that are highly sought after will not appear on the web and so it is always worth contacting us if you can’t find what you are looking for. In the event that we don’t have the specific wine you are looking for in our stocks we will endeavour to find it for you or point you in the direction of where best to look.

As wine stocks are forever changing the website is the place to visit to see what wines we have available. Wine Offers such as our en primeur campaigns and regional selections are available in print as well as on the website and if you join our mailing list, these will be sent to you.

The only restriction on order size is for customers who are buying en primeur when the case size will dictate the minimum number of bottles you can purchase. You should also bear in mind that many fine wines are delivered in wooded cases that cannot be split.

For all other wines you can buy as few or as many bottles as you wish.

Orders can be altered at anytime until the wine has left the warehouse. Please contact us as soon as you are aware of any amendments you’d like to make.

Yes. You will be asked for a delivery address when you place your order.

We aim to have your wine with you within 7 working days but for deliveries to the Highlands and Islands please allow more time.

When you place your order you will be asked if there is a safe place where your wine can be left if there’s nobody at home. 

If you provide no instructions and you are out when the wine arrives and you are not home when our carrier attempts delivery, they will leave a card giving a contact number which you may use to rearrange the delivery, however they will attempt a second time. Alternatively, collection from the depot can be arranged; the consignment will be held for a short time before being returned to Lay & Wheeler.

Please be aware, that in the very unlikely event that anything should happen to your wine once it has been left in your nominated safe place,  Lay & Wheeler cannot accept responsibility for loss or damage arising as a result of carrying out these instructions.

Yes you can collect your wine at a time and a place that is convenient for you. For just £10 you can collect your wines from any Majestic Store*. Please allow seven working days for your order to be processed. Once it's ready for collection we will let you know.

Alternatively, you can collect your wine from our bonded warehouse in Burton-on-Trent but please allow three working days for your order to be processed.

_{* Terms & Conditions apply}

Lay & Wheeler have two recommended international shippers and their details are given below. You can either contact them directly for a quote or we can liaise with them on your behalf.

Connoisseur International Wines
195 A&B Crown Business Centre
Crown Way
West Drayton
Middlesex
UB7 8HP 
Tel: +44 (0) 1895 438822 Fax: +44 (0) 1895 438833 

Email: [email protected] 

Contacts: 

nickt[email protected] 

[email protected] 

[email protected] (Speaks Mandarin & Cantonese) 

[email protected]

Seabrook Export Services Ltd
Welbeck Wharf
Unit 17
8 River Road
Barking
Essex
IG11 0JE 

Tel: +44 (0)203-288-2980 | Fax: +44 (0)203-288-2981
Email: [email protected] 

Yes. The Lay & Wheeler Fine Wine Storage Service is one of the very best and we pride ourselves on the level of care both you and your wines will receive.

You can find out more about storage and our rates here.

As one of the largest managers of private customer reserves in the UK, we are ideally placed to operate a flourishing trading service for fine wines.

Once logged in to your account, you will be able to place any tradable wines up for sale. You can even set your own selling price. 

You can check your invoices online when you log on to your account.

Alternatively you can contact our Customer Service team:

Tel: +44 (0)1473 313 233

Email: [email protected]

Follow the forgotten password link to generate a new password.

Oops! Please contact the Customer Services team who will be happy to help. 01473 313 300

Please check your wine as soon as it arrives and make a note on the delivery sheet of any damage or missing items. This will allow us to make a claim for any loss and also to facilitate a speedy replacement.

Sadly the occasional faulty bottle is a fact of the wine drinker’s life. If you come across a bottle purchased from us that is tainted or faulty please let us know and we will either arrange a credit or a replacement bottle to be sent.

If the wine has been stored by you for three months or longer, compensation will be agreed on a wine by wine basis.

Sometimes a wine isn’t faulty but doesn’t quite live up to your expectations. When this happens we do want to hear from you as this feedback is invaluable when we look at wines in the future.

We hope that your Lay & Wheeler experiences are positive but if we have fallen short in any way please contact Customer Services.

It happens! Just let us know and we’ll refund you, and be sure not to include it in future shipments.

You can pause or stop your fine wine deliveries any time. Just drop us a note at [email protected] or give us a ring on 01473 313 233.

Shipping and delivery is included in price. You’ll just need to let us know whether you prefer for your wines to be delivered to your home, or to your nearest Majestic store for collection at your own convenience and we’ll save your preferred location for future deliveries.

The monthly payment will go through on or around the 15th of every month.

When you sign up, you’ll receive a call from the person who’ll be your wine advisor - you can read more about our lovely team here.

Thank you for joining a group of loyal wine enthusiasts who enjoy inside access to fine wine! Your wine advisor will be in touch to arrange delivery of the Fine Wine Discovery Collection, discuss your wine preferences and answer any questions you may have about the club.

There’s no commitment to stay a member, but when you buy the discovery collection you are indeed joining the club. We’d of course love for you to give us a few months to impress you (and your palate) - and hopefully longer!

You’ll receive the discovery collection within seven days of confirming your delivery details with your advisor. Thereafter, you’ll receive six bottles of wine every other month, once you’ve had a chat with your advisor.

We select wines which vary in price: you might find a good bottle of claret over £30 or a particularly good value Muscadet under £10. However, we’ll always make sure the total is more than your subscription.

We include the cost of delivery in your Fine Wine Discovery Collection and in the bi-monthly cases thereafter. For additional orders, you can arrange to have them delivered with your bi-monthly case at no additional cost, or for free to your local Majestic store if the order is over £120.

Many customers never leave! While there’s no minimum commitment, we do ask you to join with an open mind to trying new wines and to give us a few months to impress you. We’ll do our very best!

The best part about the Fine Wine Discovery Club is that we make selecting wines dead easy: we put together a case, and have a quick chat to make sure you’ll be delighted with the wines. Most members take our selection because it’s the best way to discover new wines. From time to time, we may suggest something you’re sceptical about, but most often members decide to give it a try regardless. It’s our job to surprise and delight you, after all!

Yes - provided we still have some! Fine wine is often produced in small quantities, so do let your advisor know immediately if you’d like more of a particular wine, and he or she will sort it straight away. If it’s no longer available, we’ll do our best to suggest a good alternative.

The Fine Wine Discovery Club is designed to offer great wines that are ready to drink now yet have years in front of them should you wish to keep them. We will send you tasting notes, advised drinking windows and the individual bottle price of each wine.

We show prices “in bond”, in which the duty and VAT have not yet been applied, and “duty/VAT paid.” There’s a “toggle” on each product page to switch between prices. All wines in the Fine Wine Discovery Club are sold duty/VAT paid.

Customers buy wine “in bond” when they wish to store the wines in a bonded warehouse, deferring the payment of duty and VAT until they wish to have the wines delivered. Customers who may wish to sell their wines on through our broking platform may also choose to do this.

In order to take delivery of a wine, the duty and VAT must be paid first. All wines in the bi-monthly Fine Wine Discovery Club cases are sold duty/VAT paid.

From time to time, we’ll feature wines for sale which are being sold “en primeur.” This means that the wine is not yet physically available.

Yes, if you can collect your cases/deliveries from your local Majestic store. Unfortunately our delivery partners currently do not offer home delivery in Scotland or to Scottish Islands.

Unfortunately our delivery partners currently do not offer delivery in these areas.

Good question - and we’ve got a good answer! It’s quite the opposite. We’d be silly to do that, because we know that Fine Wine Discovery Club members who have a world class experience will go on to try other wines from us. So, our job is to find the best possible wines for the money.

One way to think about it is this: our Fine Wine buyer doesn’t source wines he wouldn’t drink himself, on his own budget. It’s easy to buy fine wine at £100+ a bottle but our club brings you great wines at a fraction of that price.