How to Choose a Yacht Wine Supplier — An Honest Guide
Crew change your suppliers rarely, and regret them often. Whether you use us or not, this is the checklist we would hand any Chief Stewardess, Purser or Captain choosing a yacht wine supplier — the questions that separate a provisioner who understands yachts from a wine shop with a delivery van.
1. Can they actually supply at yacht tempo?
The real test of a yacht wine supplier is not the tasting-room conversation in April — it is the Saturday-evening top-up request, the guest who arrives tomorrow expecting a specific vintage, the itinerary that moves from Antibes to Porto Cervo mid-week. Ask any candidate: what happens when I need twelve cases dockside in 24 hours? Ask for specifics — which ports, which agents, whose van. A supplier built for yachts answers with logistics; a wine merchant answers with apologies.
2. Is their stock real, or a brochure?
Many supplier lists are aspirational: they order your wine after you order it, adding days and substitution risk. Ask how many lines they physically hold, and whether you can see live availability. We hold more than 3,000 wines, Champagnes and spirits in our own cellar near Antibes, and our entire catalogue is browsable online with prices shown — to our knowledge, still the only specialist yacht wine catalogue you can browse and price without sending an email. Whoever you choose, insist on the same transparency.
3. Do they publish their prices?
Quote-only pricing has a purpose: it lets a supplier decide what you should pay after seeing the name on the transom. Published prices keep everyone honest — you can benchmark bottle-for-bottle in two minutes. If a supplier will not show pricing publicly, ask why.
4. Ask the commission question — out loud
It is an open secret that some provisioning relationships are lubricated by commissions or gifts to the person placing the order. It is also, in most flag states and management-company codes of conduct, a compliance risk for the crew member involved. Ask every supplier directly: "Do you pay commissions, kickbacks or gifts to crew for orders?" Our answer is no — never, to anyone, in any form. Fully itemised invoices, no marked-up "service fees", nothing that cannot be shown to the owner or management company. A supplier's answer to this question tells you most of what you need to know about the invoices you have not audited yet.
5. Can they do the paperwork?
Duty-free provisioning is a genuine saving when the yacht and programme qualify — and a genuine catastrophe when done wrong (yachts have been assessed VAT on the entire vessel over provisioning errors). Ask who prepares the customs paperwork, and whether they will tell you honestly when you do not qualify. Our tax-free provisioning guide explains how the rules actually work.
6. What happens after the delivery?
The order is half the job. The other half: tasting notes the interior team can serve from, cellar records that survive crew change, storage during yard periods, and training so the service matches the bottles. We publish service guides, run accredited WSET courses for crew (Levels 1–3), offer professional cellar management and climate-controlled storage near Antibes. Whoever you choose, make sure "supplier" includes these — or budget crew time to do it all yourself.
7. Do they know the job from your side of the passerelle?
Wine credentials matter — our general manager holds the WSET Diploma — but yacht credentials matter more when the pressure is on. Onshore Cellars was founded in 2015 by Edward Dunnett, a former Second Officer, and Jessica Dunnett, a former Chief Stewardess, who met working on a 70-metre motor yacht. We built the service we wished existed when we were crew: one contact, one invoice, confirmed bottles, no surprises. That perspective is hard to buy and impossible to fake.
The short checklist
Stock they physically hold · prices you can see · same-day capability in your home port · worldwide reach for the season · customs competence they will prove · zero commissions, stated in writing · tasting notes, training and cellar support · founders or staff who have worked yachts.
Run any supplier — including us — through that list. If you want to see how we answer it: why Onshore Cellars, what crews say, or simply send us your list and judge the response.
