Flask Fine Wine & Whisky

The site never mentions free shipping or any minimum-spend threshold for it. The Shipping Policy (flaskfinewines.com/policies/shipping-policy) covers shipping speeds, adult signature requirements, delivery attempts, weather-holds, and OrderProtection — but contains no free-shipping offer or spend minimum. Product-page FAQs state only: "Shipping costs are based on the number of bottles, the destination, and the selected shipping service. You can view all available options and their costs on the checkout screen before finalizing your order" — implying shipping is charged on every order. The only shipping discount mentioned anywhere in the retrieved content is "Discounted case-rate shipping at checkout" shown in the cart drawer, which is a per-case rate break, not a free-shipping minimum. So based on the site as published: no, there is no advertised minimum spend that qualifies you for free shipping, and free shipping does not appear to be offered at all — though the site never states this explicitly, so a checkout-time promotion can't be ruled out from these pages alone.

State the answer explicitly in the Shipping Policy's 'Quick summary' (e.g., 'Free shipping is not offered; shipping is charged on all orders based on bottle count, destination, and service — discounted case-rate shipping applies to multi-bottle purchases' or 'Free shipping on orders over $X'). Right now a buyer cannot tell from the site whether free shipping exists or what threshold would apply.

Where we looked: /products/copy-of-dassai-23-junmai-daiginjo-sake-720ml-1, /policies/shipping-policy, /collections/michters

Yes on weather holds: Flask's FAQ states, "We can also hold your shipment at no charge for up to one year upon request. We flag temps above 72 °F or below 32 °F as extreme" — so during summer or winter extremes they will hold your wine free for up to a year if you request it. The Old Vintage Wine collection FAQ confirms: "If you're ordering during extreme summer or winter weather, contact us and we can hold your wine or arrange expedited delivery to minimize time in transit." The refund policy also references a "hold for weather" shipping instruction and warns that ground shipments without it are not covered for temperature damage (seepage, frost, protruding corks). On refrigerated shipping: the site never mentions refrigerated transport. For extreme heat, their stated protection is "optional ice packs in our insulated shippers" plus "an overnight shipping service & a Weather Waiver" — i.e., passive cooling and faster transit, not refrigerated trucks. For freezing temperatures, holding the shipment is the protection described. So: holds = yes (free, up to one year, on request, with 72°F/32°F extreme thresholds); refrigerated shipping = not offered or mentioned anywhere in the retrieved site content — the closest alternative is ice packs in insulated shippers with overnight service during heat.

The extreme-weather FAQ (duplicated across ~19 product pages) covers holds and ice packs but never states whether refrigerated/temperature-controlled transport is offered. Add an explicit 'Do you offer refrigerated shipping?' answer to the Shipping Policy page (flaskfinewines.com/policies/shipping-policy) and the product FAQ block, stating yes/no and any associated cost, so buyers know their cold-chain options.

Where we looked: /products/binders-stash-ceci-nest-pas-un-willett-flask-8-year-single-barrel-bourbon, /products/dassai-23-junmai-daiginjo-sake-720ml-1, /collections/vintage-wine, /collections/vintage-wine, /policies/refund-policy

Corked wine: yes, with explicit deadlines that depend on how you bought it. For shipped orders, Terms of Service §5.3 states: 'Cork taint or spoilage - report within 7 days of delivery; at least 80 percent of the wine must remain in the bottle' (with cork taint determined 'at the sole discretion of Flask'). For in-store purchases, the Refund Policy's Corked Wine Policy allows returns within 30 days, provided the bottle contains at least 80% of the original volume, the wine is no more than 5 years old, and TCA taint is confirmed. Broken-in-transit bottles: Flask's own site gives no specific day count. ToS §5.3 says transit damage claims 'follow the claim deadlines in the OrderProtection customer terms or your separate policy' — the actual number of days lives in a third party's terms, not on Flask's site. Coverage is also conditional: §5.1 only allows refunds/replacements for transit damage if you purchased OrderProtection at checkout or arranged separate shipping insurance before dispatch. All claims require clear photographic evidence submitted when you notify Flask and OrderProtection ('Notification without photos will not be sufficient'). To start any claim, email hello@flaskfinewines.com with your order number, photos, and a description to obtain an RMA (§5.2).

State the actual transit-damage/broken-bottle claim deadline (days from delivery) directly in Refund Policy or ToS §5.3 — or link prominently to OrderProtection's claim-deadline terms — so buyers don't have to leave the site to learn how long they have to report a broken bottle.

Where we looked: /policies/terms-of-service, /policies/refund-policy, /policies/shipping-policy

Yes — Flask explicitly supports adding a gift note at checkout. The $300–$600 collection FAQ states: "Add a gift note at checkout and the bottle arrives ready to hand over." For corporate gifting, Flask goes further, offering to "incorporate your company logo into gift cards and envelopes, include personalized messages" as part of custom packaging, and its bulk order template includes a field for "gift messages." However, the second part of your question is not answered anywhere on the site: no page — the gifting page, collection FAQs, product FAQs, or policies — specifies a maximum character count for gift notes or personalized messages.

Publish the gift note character limit where buyers will look for it — e.g., add 'Gift notes up to X characters' to the gifting page and collection FAQs, and display the limit on the checkout gift-note field itself — so buyers know the constraint before placing an order.

Where we looked: /collections/300-600, /pages/gifts, /pages/gifts

Flask's site does not state a vintage substitution policy — nothing in the retrieved pages says whether a sold-out vintage is automatically replaced with a newer vintage or whether they contact you first. The closest applicable terms are in the Terms of Service (§3.1 Order Acceptance): "Your Order is an offer to buy. Flask may accept or decline it until we send a shipping confirmation email" and "We may cancel or limit quantities for any reason, including inventory errors, pricing errors, or suspected fraud." So a sold-out vintage could result in your order being cancelled, but the site is silent on whether substitution or buyer contact happens instead. Notably, for pricing errors they commit to "cancel the Order or contact you for instructions," but no equivalent contact-first commitment exists for inventory shortages. For a definitive answer, contact Flask directly at hello@flaskfinewines.com or 818.761.5373.

The Terms of Service orders section (§3.1) covers cancellation for inventory errors but never addresses vintage substitution. Add an explicit out-of-stock policy — e.g., 'If the vintage you ordered sells out, we will contact you before substituting a newer vintage' or 'we do not substitute; we cancel and refund' — in the ToS orders section or an order-fulfillment FAQ.

Where we looked: /policies/terms-of-service, /pages/contact-us

Both options exist, but the site is only explicit about champagne. The Mixed Wine Cases collection sells pre-configured, fixed selections — e.g., 'Taste of Italy: 9-Bottle Selection of Reds, Whites & Sparkling Wines,' 'Vintage Red Bordeaux 6 Bottle Mixed Case,' 'Red & White Bordeaux 12 Bottle Mixed Case,' 'California Reds 6 Bottle Mixed Case,' 'Elite Chardonnay 6 Bottle Mixed Case' (all 7 currently listed as Sold Out) — so those cases come as curated sets rather than bottle-by-bottle picks. For customization, the Champagne Cases FAQ states: 'Absolutely. Alongside our single-cuvée cases you can build your own selection, and our team can put together a mixed case tailored to your taste or budget,' i.e., you can build your own selection and/or have the team assemble a case tailored to your taste or budget. However, the wine (non-champagne) case pages never explicitly say whether you can hand-pick every bottle yourself for a custom wine case — the closest guidance is the champagne FAQ plus contacting the team for a tailored mixed case.

Add a FAQ or description block to the Mixed Wine Cases collection page (and the other wine case collections) stating whether the listed mixed cases are staff-curated fixed selections and whether customers can hand-pick each bottle to build a custom wine case — mirroring the customization FAQ that already exists on the Champagne Cases page.

Where we looked: /collections/champagne-cases, /collections/mixed-wine-cases

No self-serve waitlist or back-in-stock email alert is documented anywhere in the site content retrieved. Collection pages handle out-of-stock items only as an availability filter (e.g., Brandy shows 'In stock (87) / Out of stock (148)'; All Wines shows 'In stock (1935) / Out of stock (2257)'), with no 'notify me' or waitlist signup mentioned. The closest offering is a manual, contact-based service: the Old Forester Birthday Bourbon FAQ states, 'If you're building a vertical or hunting a specific year, contact us; availability changes fast and we can flag when a missing vintage lands in stock' — i.e., you contact the shop and they will alert you when that specific bottle arrives. A similar contact-first pattern appears in the Vintage Spirits FAQ ('tell us the year and budget, and we'll shortlist bottles'). So the practical answer: there is no advertised waitlist/email-alert program to sign up for; for at least Birthday Bourbon vintages you can arrange a manual restock flag by contacting them, and contacting the shop directly appears to be the fallback for any other out-of-stock bottle. Caveat: per-product 'email me when back in stock' buttons could exist on individual product pages, but no product pages were among the retrieved content, so this can't be confirmed or ruled out.

Add a 'Notify me when back in stock' / waitlist signup on out-of-stock product and collection pages, or publish an FAQ page describing how customers can be alerted to restocks. Currently the only restock-notification mention is a manual 'contact us and we can flag when a missing vintage lands in stock' note buried in the Old Forester Birthday Bourbon FAQ, which doesn't scale or generalize to the rest of the catalog.

Where we looked: /collections/old-forester-birthday-bourbon, /collections/vintage-spirits, /collections/brandy, /collections/all-wines

Partially. The site confirms climate-controlled storage and shipping, but never states the actual temperature of its warehouse. The shipping policy says Flask will "hold fully-paid orders in our temperature-controlled cellar for up to 180 days at no charge" (framed as delayed-delivery storage), and the red wine collection page states bottles are "all in stock and shipped climate controlled." However, no chunk specifies the temperature Flask's own cellar/warehouse is maintained at. The 55-60°F figure repeated across product FAQs — "For wine, we recommend storing bottles on their side in a dark, vibration-free environment with good humidity, ideally between 55-60°F" — is advice for customers' home cellaring, not a stated spec for Flask's storage facility, though it indicates the range the retailer considers ideal for wine.

Publish the actual storage temperature of your cellar/warehouse (e.g., on the shipping policy or a dedicated storage & handling page), and clarify whether your facility matches the 55-60°F range you recommend to customers — currently the only temperature on site is home-cellaring advice, not your own operations spec.

Where we looked: /policies/shipping-policy, /collections/all-red-wine, /products/dirty-baby-viognier-2016, /products/cambridge-distillery-limited-vintage-spring-summer-2022-gin