We thank each and every one of you who have given us, and our wine, a chance by placing an order with Nocking Point since we got started in 2013. This year alone we’ve received nearly 60,000 individual orders from our wonderful community — something we’re incredibly proud of and beyond thankful for. The bulk of these orders come in a time where COVID-19 impacted us all and slowed down the entire supply chain. While it may seem like we’re a large company, we still have under 10 employees handling everything from wine production to customer service to logistics to social media and to packing & shipping your orders. That said, we know how important timely order delivery is so since May 1st we have taken the following steps to ship orders as fast as humanly possible, and frankly faster than ever before:

• We worked with FedEx to grant us the ability to ship more than 200 orders per day — a standard quota they placed on small businesses in our region — so that we can fill entire trailers with 1,000+ orders at a time, up to 3,000 orders per week, per location.

• We opened two new fulfillment locations in Walla Walla with teams of 5+ people working 7 days a week to pack and ship your orders from multiple locations, all the while honoring social distancing requirements.

• We asked our own small team to work 7 days a week at the warehouse, 16 hours per day in split-shifts, honoring social distancing requirements and making sure that we, and you, stay safe and healthy.

At the same time as we have worked this hard to add staff and additional shipping locations, we were unexpectedly slowed down by vendors facing the same supply chain issues as we have. Delays in getting us the essential materials we need to ship orders — boxes, tape, trays, labels — were very real. We love our vendors and worked with both them and the delivery companies to prioritize us and to get us everything we needed faster than the currently “normal” supply chain will allow. We realize in the era of Amazon that nearly-instant delivery of items sets the expectation that most e-commerce companies can perform at the same level. We can only wish and aspire to one day be so efficient. Until then, please understand that we’re doing all we can to get every single one of you the orders you placed as fast as the supply chain and our new multi-location team can make it happen.

We see your comments. We read your emails. We don’t take having a single delayed order lightly. Rest assured that the biggest bottleneck is behind us and that our shipping turnaround times will soon be back to normal. Until then, thank you for giving us a chance to send some wine to your doorstep that we hope makes you very happy.

Stay safe and well in every way possible.

All of our best,

— AH & SA