Terms & Conditions
1. Ordering
1.1. Orders can be placed in a number of ways; directly with a member of Baron Wines’ staff over the telephone, via email or via the website
1.2. Once placed, orders will be acknowledged by Baron Wines and then subsequently accepted or, in rare instances, rejected. The process will depend on the channel and is described in the appropriate sections below
1.3. By placing an Order, you agree that you are capable of entering into a legally binding contract and you must be at least 18 years old or you must have reached the requisite age in your home territory for the purchase of alcohol. All contracts are subject to English law and jurisdiction. All Goods are offered subject to market price movement and remaining unsold. You agree that Baron Wines will have no liability to you whatsoever regarding the authenticity, of any Goods after one year following the date of purchase and any and all liability (in respect of any claim) before one year shall be limited to the purchase price of the Goods
2. Contract of Sale
2.1. A Contract for Sale which incorporates these Terms and Conditions in full will come into existence when we expressly accept your Order. Please note that an acknowledgement of your Order by us by telephone, email or Website confirmation does not constitute acceptance of your Order. Your Order will be accepted when we take payment from you or issue an invoice to you for the Order
2.2. We have a minimum Order of £200 (per Order, ex VAT and duty)
2.3. We are free to accept or decline the whole or part of any Order at our absolute discretion. Where we decline part of an Order we will confirm this to you and afford you the opportunity to continue with the part of the Order we have accepted
2.4. All prices are set in Pounds Sterling (GBP) and may be varied without prior notice. All Orders will be invoiced in Pounds Sterling. Any applicable VAT, duty and delivery charges will be added at the time of Order or, in the case of Customer Reserves held in bond, when the relevant Reserves are delivered or collected
2.5. The description and prices payable for the Goods you order are set out in our emails and other communications with you. If we have under-priced an item or service in error, we will not be liable to provide that item to you at the stated price provided that we notify you of the error before we despatch the item concerned or, if we are not despatching an item, within 7 working days of our acceptance of your Order and we may cancel your Order provided we refund to you any payments you have made. Alternatively, you may agree to pay the corrected price, in which case we will proceed with your Order. In the event that you have been overcharged for an item, a full refund of the difference will be given
2.6. The availability of the Goods will be checked after we have received your Order to Buy. If for any reason at any point before delivery of the Goods to you, we are unable to fulfil your Order (or any part thereof) we will advise you of this and if we have already debited your payment card or received a bank transfer, the appropriate amount will be credited to the card or account used to place your Order
2.7. At the point these Terms become binding (as provided for in Clause 2.1) you have entered into a Contract for Sale. We shall not be bound by any clerical or arithmetical errors in documents issued by us in relation to your Order to Buy. No price or other information contained on our Website shall constitute an offer to contract
3. Payment
3.1. Payment is due on invoice. Until all sums due to us have been paid we shall be entitled to retain possession of any goods to which you would otherwise be entitled. If any payment is overdue we shall be entitled to suspend deliveries/collections
3.2. Payment can be made by bank transfer and non-EEA credit/debit cards (3.5% surcharge)
3.3. Payments received that have had bank charges deducted from them will be re-invoiced to the customer for the missing amount
3.4. If a discount is agreed upon in writing and the said invoice is not settled within 14 days of the invoice being issued, the price shall revert to the original price, prior to discount
3.5. We will exercise our statutory right to claim interest (at 8% over the Bank of England base rate) and compensation for debt recovery costs under the Late Payment legislation if we are not paid according to our agreed payment terms
3.6. In the event that any amount is owing from you to us then you agree that we will have the right to purchase any of your Goods which are held by us at a price governed by these Terms and Conditions in satisfaction of your liabilities to us. Upon that purchase, we will hold title to the relevant Goods and we will then be free to sell or otherwise deal with those Goods at our discretion
3.7. In order to exercise our right to purchase Goods we hold for you to satisfy your liabilities to us we will send written notice to your last known invoice address of our intention to purchase the Goods. Fifteen days after sending such notice we will be entitled to take ownership and possession and (at our discretion) dispose of some or all of your Goods which are held by us. Upon purchasing the Goods, we will credit you with the purchase price of the relevant Goods (the "credit amount"). The purchase price will be 80% of market value for other Goods. Market value will be assessed based on our list prices or by making reasonable enquiries and will be assessed on the date which falls 15 days after the notice referred to in this clause 3.7 is sent by us. We will set the credit amount off against any sums you owe to us. If the credit amount exceeds the sums you owe to us we will account to you upon request for any excess but we will not be obliged to pay interest on such excess. If any balance remains outstanding owing to us after we have purchased the Goods and credited the credit amount to you then the balance (including interest at the rate specified in clause 3.5) shall remain payable by you
3.8. Our right to purchase Goods we hold for you to satisfy your liabilities does not affect any other remedies we may have. You agree that given that the credit amount represents the typical price we would pay for the relevant Goods, and given the existence of fluctuating demand and prices for the Goods, the above terms are reasonable
3.9. We reserve the right to charge a cancellation fee of up to 20% of the outstanding amount, or actual losses incurred by Baron Wines as a result of cancellation if greater than 20%
3.10. We may (a) utilise any monies held on account or otherwise received from or on behalf of the Customer to discharge any such cancellation fees; (b) cancel any discounts given in respect of any invoiced sums and/or cancel any further deliveries to you; and (c) withdraw any credit facilities which have been offered to you
3.11. In the event that funds are owed from us to you, and there exists an outstanding balance owed by you to us, we may (at our sole discretion) withhold any payment, offset any outstanding amounts, or retain the funds until the entire outstanding debt owed by you to us has been settled in full
4. Title and Risk
4.1. We shall retain title to all goods (other than goods in your direct physical possession following delivery or collection and payment in full for those goods) sold by us until all the sums due from you in respect of any order have been paid
4.2. Risk in all goods shall pass to you as soon as we notify you that they are available and earmarked under your order. If goods within our ownership are held by any third party on your behalf you will upon our request instruct that third party to hold the goods to our order
5. Prices
5.1. Unless the contrary is shown, prices on this site are:
5.1.1. Per case (Case/OCC/OWC) or per bottle (Unit) as indicated
5.1.2. Exclusive of VAT
5.1.3. Exclusive of delivery charges
5.1.4. Provisional and subject to our confirmation with an invoice, upon acceptance of order
6. Duty & VAT
6.1. For Goods purchased and held in bond for UK home use: the Customer will be liable to pay duty and VAT based on the rates in force when the Goods are taken out of bond and not those prevailing at the time of purchase
6.2. Duty paid Goods for export must be exported from the UK within 30 days of invoice if collected by the Customer's shipper or 90 days of invoice if shipped by Baron Wines, or else UK VAT will be payable by the Customer
6.3. Any change in duties, tariffs or other taxes which arise because of changes in laws will be the responsibility of the Customer
6.4. If Goods are being ordered from outside of the UK, import duties, tariffs and taxes may be incurred once your Goods reach their destination. Baron Wines is not responsible for these charges and we undertake to make no calculations or estimates in this regard. We recognise that if you are buying internationally the process can be complex and whilst Baron Wines will be on hand to guide you with advice and support you should take advice from your own professional adviser because we are not qualified to give advice in these areas. As the purchaser of the Goods, you will also be the importer of record and as such should ensure that your purchase is in full compliance with the laws of the country into which the Goods are being imported. Please be aware that Goods may be inspected on arrival at port for customs purposes and Baron Wines cannot guarantee that the packaging of your Goods will be free of signs of tampering
7. Delivery
7.1. Any indication as to when wines will be available for delivery or collection is an estimate only and is not intended to be binding
7.2. We will notify you once wines are available and you must give at least three working days’ notice before collection
7.3. National or international transport may be arranged by us as your agent at the rates of charge indicated
8. Storage
8.1. Your obligation to pay our storage charges for Customer Reserves will commence on the date we have agreed to store the stock. Storage charges will be raised in line with clause 8.9
8.2. Wines stored with Baron Wines are insured to replacement value
8.3. In order to place stock in our storage facility you will need to notify us:
8.3.1. when agreeing to buy the Goods, where you opt for us to store Goods you have bought from us; or
8.3.2. in any other case in advance of sending the stock to us for storage, in which case we will supply you with a booking-in reference. Should any stock arrive without a booking-in reference we reserve the right to refuse receipt of stock into our storage facility.
8.4. Prior to sending stock not purchased from us for storage you must provide copies of the original invoices as evidence of the in-bond values. We do not accept for storage mixed cases or loose bottles purchased from third parties without our prior written agreement
8.5. Unless we have agreed to arrange for collection of the stock you will be responsible for sending the stock to us. You will also be responsible for insuring the stock in transit unless we agree to collect them. We reserve the right to apply a collection charge if we collect stock on your behalf
8.6. If Goods purchased from us are not collected or delivered within 30 days of the later of the date of the invoice or of the Goods becoming available for collection or delivery you agree that we will place the Goods into storage and these storage terms will apply. Please note that we will not inspect stock when sent to us from another merchant/supplier/source for storage. We will not take any steps to verify that the stock delivered/stored match the details of those first provided by you nor accept any liability for the authenticity, provenance, quality or condition of any stock bought from third parties when placing them in our storage facility or while storing the stock. If you have purchased the Goods from us and we have agreed to store them on your behalf then we will arrange for them to be delivered to and placed in our storage facility
8.7. Baron Wines’ records will distinguish the ownership of Customer Reserves from the ownership of Baron Wines’ own stock. Baron Wines will require any Customer instructions pertaining to dealing with Customer Reserves to be confirmed in writing before acting on those instructions
8.8. You agree and acknowledge that our storage facility is owned and operated by a third party in a facility where the temperature and humidity conditions are appropriate for the storage of fine wines
8.9. Our storage charges for Customer Reserves are set out on our Website and may change from time to time. Any changes to our rates for storage will be communicated in advance to our Customers before the start of the charging period to which they apply. We will invoice you for our storage charges in arrears every six months for the storage periods of 1 January to 30 June and 1st July to 31st December each year. Our storage charges will be calculated and charged on the basis of a rate for each 4.5 litres (or part thereof) plus VAT (where applicable) per six-month period, unless we take storage of your stock within the last 30 days of such six-month period (in which case no charge is levied for that period). Any stock placed in storage during the first five months of a six month charging period will be subject to a charge of a full six months for that period; however, any stock removed from storage at any point during a charging period will be subject to a charge of a full six months for that period and accordingly we will not refund any unused portion of a six-month storage charge. Surcharges will apply for any credit cards registered outside the EEA which are used to make payments
8.10. You agree to discharge the cost of any unpaid storage before removing any stock from Customer Reserves. If we have not yet invoiced for a period of unpaid storage then we will issue an invoice when you ask to remove the stock from Reserves and this invoice will be immediately due for payment. You agree that Baron Wines shall have no liability to you whatsoever (including without limitation as to authenticity) following the removal of stock from Customer Reserves 8.11. Unless otherwise explicitly agreed in writing, each request for photographs will be subject to a fee of £10 per photograph, per case
9. Ownership & Insurance
9.1. You will retain ownership of Customer Reserves, subject always to our rights under clause 3
9.2. We agree to arrange for your Reserves to be insured against damage, loss or theft at the lower of replacement or market value. In view of the difficulty in assessing the total market value and the market value of individual rarities, Baron Wines can only try to ensure that full compensation is recovered in cases of loss. Please note that the insurance will be provided by a third party and will be subject to various exclusions and limitations. We will supply a copy of these exclusions and limitations to you on request. You agree that our liability with respect to any loss you may incur will be limited to such amount as we may recover under our insurance policy
9.3. You will be entitled to collect any stock from Customer Reserves by giving us at least three full business days' prior notice to be received by us before noon. For high volume or large transfer requests from Customer Reserves we may require more than three business days' notice. All fees and charges owed to us must be settled in full before you will be permitted to remove stock from Customer Reserves. Where stock is held in a bonded storage facility (duty unpaid) you will be required to pay duty and VAT on the wines in order to remove them from the facility. You agree to attend the facility and collect the stock on the date agreed. We may agree, as your agent, to arrange for delivery of the stock to you, in which case you will be responsible for all delivery costs
10. Acceptance
10.1. You undertake to inspect all goods when collecting or immediately on delivery and to notify ourselves or the carrier forthwith of any shortage or damage or other deficiency
10.2. You will be deemed to have accepted the goods as satisfying your order three days after collection/delivery, and thereafter will not be entitled to reject wines for any reason
11. Default
11.1. If any payment is overdue for 14 days or the goods have not been collected within one month of being available, or there is an earlier indication from you that payment will not be made or the goods will not be collected, we shall be entitled to send written notice (including by email to the email address that confirmed the order) to the invoice address of our intention to deal with, sell or otherwise dispose of the goods and 7 days thereafter we shall be at liberty to do so unless payment in full is received or the goods are collected before the close of business on the seventh day
11.2. Any method of resale is entirely at our discretion
11.3. Upon resale you will receive a credit of 80% of the lower of the net proceeds of the resale and the price of our original sale to you. Any balance after the credits shall remain payable by you and shall continue to carry interest
11.4. The existence of this right does not affect any other remedies we would have
12. Force Majeure
12.1. We shall not be liable for any failure to meet our obligations occasioned by circumstances beyond our reasonable control.
13. Description/Quality
13.1. We undertake the proper safekeeping and storage of wines in our possession and will act in good faith when purchasing wine, but we will not be responsible for the state and condition of wines or whether the wine corresponds to the qualities which might be expected from its description. At our complete discretion, we will consider replacing the remainder of any case sold which is not drinkable
13.2. In the event that wines are corked or out of condition for consumption, no liability will attach to us and Baron Wines will be under no obligation to offer replacements or offer other compensation of any kind and such replacements or compensation will be made entirely at our discretion
13.3. All older bottles are sold as seen and we cannot accept returns for any wines should they be corked, tainted or fatigued in any way. As such the wine we sell to you will be of condition to be expected in view of its age and provenance and we will not be responsible for minor defects or imperfections or any condition resulting from nature or age of the wine
13.4. We cannot replace and/or credit a customer's account for any wines with wax capsules that have signs of seepage, past or present
13.5. Whilst Baron Wines takes all possible & practical precautions to protect bottles during transit, they may shift naturally inside their boxes. We cannot replace and/or credit a customer’s account for any wines that have suffered damage to the labels and/or capsules, either foil or wax, glass and original cartons or original wooden cases during the normal course of transit
13.6. Domaine Leroy & Domaine d’Auvenay wines – we are unable to replace and or credit a customer's account for any Domaine Leroy and Domaine d’Auvenay wines that have signs of seepage, past or present, as this is a normal occurrence with both Domaines
13.7. We do not purchase US strip-labelled stock or stock that has been shipped back into Europe from the Americas or Asia unless otherwise specified or specifically requested
14. En Primeur Sales
14.1. In the unlikely event that we are unable to supply wines purchased on your behalf en Primeur due to circumstances beyond our control, our liability will be limited to any monies paid to us
14.2. For Customers who have purchased wine en Primeur please note that in the unlikely event of the chateau deciding not to bottle your selected format, Baron Wines reserves the right to allocate the most appropriate bottle size instead
15. Web Sales
15.1. As a multi-channel seller, there is a slight risk that wines offered for sale online may be sold by telephone or email during the online ordering process. In the unlikely event that a wine ordered and paid for online is unavailable, we will immediately refund any payment made in respect of the wine
15.2. Our liability in this case will be limited to refunding any sums paid to us. Refunds for online payments will be at the discretion of management
16. Limitation of Liability
16.1. We are not liable for any loss of condition or decline in the market value due to natural processes, ullage or being cellared too long
17. Law
17.1. All our contracts are made under English Law and are subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the English Courts
18. General
18.1. We reserve the right to alter these Terms And Conditions at any time. Any such changes will take effect when posted on our Website. Upon registration on our website you will have agreed to these Terms and Conditions. It is your responsibility to read the Terms and Conditions on each occasion the Website is used or goods are ordered. Your use of the Website or your agreement to place, retain and remove wines in storage with us shall signify your acceptance to be bound by these latest Terms and Conditions
18.2. If any provision of these Terms and Conditions is held by a court or other competent authority to be invalid or unenforceable in whole or in part the validity of the other provisions of these Terms and Conditions and the remainder of the provision in question shall not be affected
18.3. No provision of these Terms and Conditions shall be enforceable pursuant to the Contracts (Rights of Third Parties) Act 1999
18.4. No delay in exercising or non-exercise by Baron Wines of any right, power or remedy under or in connection with these Terms and Conditions shall impair that right, power or remedy or operate as a waiver or release of it
18.5. These Terms and Conditions shall be governed by the laws of England and Wales and you agree that the courts of England and Wales shall have exclusive jurisdiction in relation to the subject matter thereof and any disputes relating to the same.