Primal Wine FAQs

Primal Wine is an online natural wine shop based in Los Angeles. We curate organic, biodynamic and low-intervention wines from small independent growers, and ship them to 45 US states. Every bottle in the shop was tasted and chosen by our team, not pulled from a distributor list. You can read the longer version on why Primal Wine.

Start with something juicy and easy rather than something extreme. Our glou-glou collection is built for exactly this: light, fresh, gulpable reds and whites with no funk to get past. From there, try one orange wine and one pét-nat to find the edges of what you like.

Pick a best seller or a bottle from Guido's Picks and check out. If you would rather not choose at all, the Wine Club Wizard builds a box for you in about a minute.

Most of the shop sits between $20 and $45, and that range covers the great majority of what we drink ourselves. There is a full under $25 collection if you want to explore cheaply, and rare gems if you are chasing something specific.

No. Every product page carries a plain-language tasting profile, food pairings, the grape, the region and the producer's story. If a word on the page is unfamiliar, it is almost certainly defined in our wine glossary, which covers more than 1,100 terms.

Three to six is the sweet spot. It is enough to taste styles side by side and notice what you actually reach for, without committing to a case. Shipping wine is expensive, so ordering a few bottles at once is also better value than one bottle at a time.

Natural covers low-sulfite, organic and biodynamic wines made with minimal intervention, including zero-zero bottles. Classic covers appellation-driven, small-batch wines from growers who farm responsibly but work in a more traditional cellar style. Both come from the same kind of honest, small producer.

Yes, and we recommend it. Buy a mixed handful first, note what you like, then scale up with Build a Bundle or the club. There is no minimum order.

No. Primal Wine is online only. Everything ships from our warehouse to your address, and our team is reachable by email and phone during business hours.

Each product page shows a four-part taste profile covering body, fruit, tannin and acidity, plus tasting icons and food pairings. Read those two things together and you will have a good idea of the shape of the wine before it arrives.

Natural wine is wine made from organically or biodynamically farmed grapes, fermented with native yeast, and bottled with little or nothing added beyond a small amount of sulfur, and often not even that. There is no single legal definition in the US, which is why who you buy from matters. Our full explainer is the natural wine guide.

No. Organic refers to how the grapes were farmed and is a certifiable legal category. Natural describes farming plus what happens in the cellar, and is not legally defined. Most natural wine is organically farmed, but plenty of certified organic wine is made with conventional cellar additives. See our organic wine guide.

Biodynamic farming treats the vineyard as one living system, using composts and preparations on a seasonal calendar, with no synthetic chemicals. It is certified by bodies such as Demeter and Biodyvin. Our biodynamic wine guide goes deeper, and you can shop the biodynamic collection.

It means the winemaker does as little as possible between the grape and the bottle: no added yeast, no acid or sugar corrections, no fining or filtering in most cases, and minimal or no added sulfur. The wine is shaped in the vineyard rather than corrected in the cellar.

Orange wine is white wine made like red: the juice stays in contact with the grape skins, which gives it colour, tannin and grip. It is also called skin-contact wine, and it is one of the oldest styles in existence, still traditional in Georgia and Friuli. Start with our guide to the best orange wines or shop skin-contact wines.

Pét-nat is short for pétillant naturel, a sparkling wine bottled before its first fermentation has finished, so the bubbles come from that original fermentation rather than a second one. It is usually cloudy, lower in pressure than Champagne, and often sealed with a crown cap. Shop sparkling and pét-nat.

Piquette is made by rehydrating pressed grape skins and refermenting them, producing a light, low-alcohol, spritzy drink. It is a traditional way of using what is left after pressing, and it is having a real revival. See the piquette collection.

Zero-zero means nothing added and nothing removed: no added sulfur, no additives, no fining, no filtering. These wines are the most fragile category we carry and benefit most from cool storage. Browse no added sulfites.

Because it was not filtered or fined. Cloudiness is suspended yeast and fine sediment, and it is a stylistic choice rather than a fault. Stand the bottle upright for a few hours and pour gently if you would prefer a clearer glass.

No. Sediment is normal in unfiltered wine and in older bottles, where colour and tannin compounds fall out over time. It is harmless. Decant or simply stop pouring before the last centimetre.

Some low-sulfite wines carry reductive notes at first, which can read as struck match or a briny funk. Most blow off within fifteen to thirty minutes in the glass or after a decant. If a smell is still unpleasant after that, it may be a genuine fault, so get in touch.

Volatile acidity, often abbreviated to VA, is the vinegary or nail-polish note produced by acetic acid. In small amounts it can add lift and complexity, which is why some natural wines are made with more of it than a conventional wine would carry. In large amounts it dominates the wine and is considered a fault.

No. Plenty of natural wine is precise, clean and completely conventional in flavour. The stereotype comes from a loud minority of very extreme bottles. If you want the recognisable end of the spectrum, start with our classic selection.

Hybrids and PIWIs are grape varieties bred to resist fungal disease, which allows growers to spray far less in damp climates. They are increasingly common among growers who want to farm cleanly in difficult conditions.

Every wine is tasted before we list it. We look for honest farming first, then for a wine that tastes like where it came from and is worth its price. We work with small independent growers rather than large brands, and we say no far more often than we say yes.

No. If it is on the site, someone here wanted to drink it. That is the entire filter.

Around 1,100 wines are live in the shop at any given time, across red, white, orange, rosé, sparkling, pét-nat, piquette and non-alcoholic. The list changes constantly because most of what we buy is made in tiny quantities.

We do not build the shop around critic scores. Where a wine has a meaningful score we may show it, but the tasting profile, the producer's story and our own notes are what we expect you to buy on.

A rotating shortlist of what our founder is personally drinking and recommending right now. If you want a shortcut through 1,100 wines, start at Guido's Picks.

Use the By Grape menu in the main navigation, which covers Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, Sangiovese, Nebbiolo, Gamay, Grenache, Riesling, Cabernet Franc and more. There is also a grape varietals blog if you want to read before you buy.

Use the By Country menu for France, Italy, Germany, Spain, Portugal, Greece, the USA, Australia and others. For deeper reading we publish regional guides for Italy, France, Spain and Austria.

We keep three collections for exactly that: light body, medium body and full body. Each product page also shows a body reading on its taste profile.

It rates four things from one to four: body, fruit, tannin and acidity. Read them together rather than separately. High acidity with low body means brisk and refreshing. High tannin with high body means structured and best with food.

Yes. New arrivals shows the most recent additions, and what we are tasting shows what is currently open on our table.

Sometimes, but often not. Most of our growers make a few hundred cases of a given wine, and once an allocation is gone it is gone until the next vintage, which will taste different. If a bottle matters to you, add it to your wishlist using the heart icon so you are watching it.

It is exactly what it says: wines down to their final bottle. It is a good place to find something unusual, and it moves quickly. See one bottle left.

Yes, we keep a dedicated women-owned collection for growers where a woman owns or runs the estate.

Yes, we carry a small non-alcoholic selection. It is deliberately small because we only list bottles we think are actually good to drink.

It is a recurring or one-off box of hand-picked natural or classic wine, built to your preferences and shipped to 45 US states. Every box comes with tasting notes on the grower, the region and what to expect in the glass. Build yours with the Wine Club Wizard.

You answer five short questions: the style you want, whether you are subscribing or buying once, how many bottles, which wine type, and how often. The wizard prices the box as you go and adds it to your cart at the end. It takes about a minute.

Style is Natural, Classic or a bit of both. Type is Mixed, Red, White, Orange, Sparkling or a fully Custom mix you build yourself. Quantity is 2, 3, 4, 6, 12 or a custom number. Frequency, for subscriptions, is monthly, bi-monthly or quarterly.

Subscribers save 10% on every shipment compared to the one-off price, and the discount applies to every delivery for as long as you stay subscribed.

Yes. Choose the one-off plan in the wizard and you get a single shipment with no commitment and no recurring charge.

Six bottles. It is enough variety to see a real range of styles and it is the size most members settle on.

The Classic club is built around appellation-driven bottles and does not carry orange or sparkling as a dedicated type. Choose Natural or 'a bit of both' if you want those styles in your box.

Yes. Pick Custom as your type and set how many reds, whites, rosés, oranges and sparklings you want. Your split is passed to us with the order and we build the box around it.

Any time, with no fees. Skip a shipment, pause, or cancel from your account whenever you like. You can manage everything from manage subscriptions.

Email hello@primalwine.com before your next shipment date and tell us what you want changed. A real person reads it, and we will adjust the selection.

On your chosen cadence: monthly, every two months, or quarterly. You are charged when each shipment is prepared, not all up front.

Free shipping applies to orders over $249. Note that the free-shipping progress bar in the cart is disabled when a club product is in the cart, because clubs are priced separately.

Yes. Members get a standing 15% off add-on wines, so you can top up a shipment with extra bottles from the shop.

Yes. We sell prepaid one-month, three-month and six-month clubs, which are the cleanest way to give the club as a gift with no subscription for the recipient to manage. See wine clubs.

Tell us. If a bottle is corked or off we credit your account, with no argument. That is a standing club policy, not a case-by-case favour.

It is a mix-and-match case builder: you pick the exact bottles you want and a volume discount is applied automatically. Start at Build a Bundle.

The discount builds as you add bottles: 5% at eight bottles and 10% at twelve. It is applied automatically at checkout, so there is no code to remember.

Yes, that is the point of it. A good bundle mixes crowd-pleasers, one or two discoveries and something with a bit more structure for a dinner.

Yes. Gift cards are delivered by email and never expire in the sense of being taken away by us. Find them under gift cards and prepaid clubs.

Yes. Enter their address as the shipping address at checkout. Remember that an adult 21 or older must be at that address to sign for the delivery, so make sure the recipient will actually be there.

Yes. Add it in the order instructions box in the cart before checkout and we will include it in the box.

Tell us in the order instructions and we will handle the paperwork accordingly. If it matters to you, say so explicitly on the order rather than assuming.

Ask in the order instructions and we will do our best. Because wine requires an adult signature and weather can force a hold, we cannot guarantee a fixed delivery date, so build in a few days of slack.

A mixed six-bottle club box, a gift card, or a bundle built from our best sellers. All three let the recipient meet the range without you having to guess a grape.

We ship to 45 US states. Enter your address at checkout to confirm we can reach you. We cannot ship internationally, and we cannot ship to PO Boxes.

We need two to three business days to prepare an order, and that applies to every shipping rate we sell. Transit time is added on top of that. If you choose 2DAY shipping, the two days refers to transit only, not to the preparation time.

Because each order is picked and packed by hand, quality-checked, given its printed collateral and palletised. We would rather take an extra day than send a bottle out badly packed.

On orders over $249.

FedEx, with other carriers used occasionally. Everything ships from our warehouse.

Yes. Carriers can only hand wine to someone 21 or older, and they will not leave it at the door. Someone of legal age has to be at the address to sign.

Yes. Enter your preferred FedEx store as the shipping address and we will ship your order there. You have five business days to pick it up, and you will need to show your ID.

Three. After three failed attempts the package is sent back to our warehouse, and the shipping fee is not refunded.

We can re-ship it once you pay a re-shipping fee, which depends on your address and the number of bottles. If you would rather have a refund, we can do that but must keep a $20 refund fee, because returns cost us a great deal with the carrier.

Contact us as soon as possible, ideally within one to two days of placing the order. After that we cannot guarantee a change is still possible.

Yes, for a $20 rerouting fee. We cannot reroute a package across state borders.

No. Wine requires an adult signature, so PO Boxes are not permitted. Use a home address, a work address or a FedEx store.

Yes, with care. During a heat wave we may briefly hold your order, and we offer ice packs with a styrofoam insert, which we recommend from May to September. Ask for a hold or for ice packs before your order ships.

If you do not flag a weather concern and do not request a hold or ice packs before we ship, we cannot take responsibility for heat or frost damage. If you are worried about the forecast, tell us and we will hold the order.

Note it in the order instructions in the cart, or email us right after ordering. Ice packs ship inside a styrofoam insert.

You will get a shipping confirmation email with tracking as soon as the order leaves the warehouse. Please make sure your email address is correct at checkout, or you will not receive it.

Yes. Say so in the order instructions box in the cart, and tell us roughly when you want it. This is the right move if you are travelling or if the weather is extreme.

Email hello@primalwine.com with a photo of the box and the bottle as soon as you can, and we will sort it out.

Get in touch and tell us which bottle it was. We do not make you argue the point. Club members get store credit for corked or off bottles as a standing policy.

If you are not satisfied, contact us at (424) 414-2040 or hello@primalwine.com between 9am and 5pm Pacific, seven days a week, and we will try to solve it. Refunds are offered as store credit.

Because wine cannot be resold once it has left our control, and shipping it in both directions is extremely expensive for a small shop. Store credit lets us make things right without the cost making it impossible.

Yes, but a small cancellation fee applies, sized to the order, because carriers charge us a lot to recall a package in transit. Contact us immediately if you need this.

Contact us as soon as possible. If the order has not been picked and packed yet we can usually cancel it cleanly.

Email us with your order number and tell us what is missing. Do not throw the packaging away until we have sorted it.

Carrier scans can stall, especially in bad weather or over a holiday. Give it a business day, then email us with your order number and we will chase it.

Not necessarily. Small-production wine changes between vintages, and unfiltered wine can shift with temperature and time in bottle. If it tastes actively wrong, vinegary, or like wet cardboard, tell us.

Checkout is handled by Shopify, and every method we accept is shown on the payment step, including major credit cards and the express wallets. If a card is declined, it is almost always the issuer rather than us.

Yes. We never see or store your full card number. Payment is processed by Shopify's PCI-compliant checkout. See our privacy policy for how we handle your data.

Open the Discount Code tab at the bottom of the cart, enter your code and apply it. You can also enter it at checkout. Codes generally do not stack with each other.

It is applied to your account and can be used at checkout. If you cannot see it, email us with the order it came from and we will point you at it.

Email us straight away. If the order has not been packed yet we can often add to it and save you a second shipping charge.

In the cart, under Order Instructions. This is the right place for gift messages, ship-later requests, ice packs and anything else we should know.

Yes, immediately after you order, followed by a shipping confirmation with tracking when it leaves the warehouse. Double-check your email address at checkout, because a typo means you will not receive either.

Tax is calculated at checkout based on your shipping address and the rules of your state.

Call (424) 414-2040 between 9am and 5pm Pacific and we will help. We are a small team, so email is usually faster.

You must be 21 or older to buy wine from us, and someone 21 or older must sign for the delivery.

No, you can check out as a guest. An account makes it easier to see past orders, track subscriptions and keep a wishlist.

Go to manage subscriptions and sign in. From there you can skip, pause, cancel, change your address or change your payment method.

Use the unsubscribe link at the bottom of any email. You can also email us and we will remove you.

Use the account icon in the header and sign up with your email. You can also create one after checking out as a guest, using the same email address, so your past orders line up.

Use the forgot password link on the sign-in screen and we will email you a reset link. If it does not arrive, check your spam folder before emailing us.

Sign in and open your account. Every order, with its tracking, is listed there. Guest orders are not listed, so keep your confirmation email if you checked out without an account.

Yes. Go to manage subscriptions, sign in, and update the payment method on the subscription. Changing the card on a single past order does not change the subscription.

Yes, from manage subscriptions. Do it before your next shipment date, because once a box is picked and packed the address is locked.

Yes. Switch between monthly, bi-monthly and quarterly from your subscription settings, or email us and we will change it for you.

Almost always an expired card or a bank block on a recurring charge. Update the card in manage subscriptions and the shipment will go out on the next run.

Email hello@primalwine.com and we will handle it. California residents can also use our CCPA opt-out.

Cooler than you think for reds and less cold than you think for whites. Light reds are excellent at fridge temperature for twenty minutes, and most whites and oranges show more when taken out of the fridge fifteen minutes before pouring. Overchilling flattens aroma.

Many natural reds are better slightly chilled, particularly light, juicy ones. We keep a whole guide on the subject: best chillable reds.

Not usually, but it helps. A decant blows off reductive notes in low-sulfite wines and opens up tighter bottles. For an unfiltered wine, decant gently and leave the sediment behind.

One glass with a reasonably wide bowl handles nearly everything. Glassware matters far less than temperature and than actually giving the wine a few minutes of air.

Two to four days in the fridge with the cork back in, for both reds and whites. Low-sulfite wines can change faster, and sometimes for the better on day two. Sparkling loses its bubbles quickest.

Cool, dark, stable and on its side if it has a natural cork. A consistent 55°F is ideal, but consistency matters more than the exact number. Avoid the top of the fridge and anywhere near a window.

Yes, and for zero-zero and low-sulfite bottles it is the safest place if you do not have a cellar. Cold slows everything down, which is exactly what a fragile wine wants.

Structured reds and a good number of the classic, appellation-driven bottles will improve for years. Most pét-nat, piquette and light glou-glou styles are made to drink now. If you are unsure about a specific bottle, ask us.

A crown cap usually means pét-nat or a wine meant to be drunk young. A screwcap says nothing about quality. A natural cork means store the bottle on its side.

A vacuum stopper buys you an extra day or two, and an inert gas spray buys more. For most bottles the cork and the fridge are enough. For anything precious, gas is the only method that really works.

A few weeks is fine if the room is genuinely cool and stable. Longer than that, and especially anywhere above 70°F or in direct light, will age the wine faster than you want, particularly with low-sulfite bottles.

Something bright, juicy and a bit chillable. We keep a whole pizza night collection for this.

Off-dry whites, aromatic whites and low-tannin reds. High alcohol and heavy tannin fight chilli. See the Asian cuisine collection.

One crisp white, one light chillable red and one sparkling covers nearly everyone. Add an orange wine if you want something to talk about.

Yes. Primal Recipes and Recipes and Pairings pair specific dishes with specific styles. Club members also get a seasonal recipe with their box.

Plan on roughly half a bottle per drinking guest for a few hours, and a little more for a seated dinner. Our events calculator will work it out properly from your headcount and format.

Match weight, then match acidity. A light dish wants a light wine, and a rich or fatty dish wants acidity to cut through it. Almost everything else is preference.

Sparkling and high-acid whites do more work than big reds, which fight with salt and fat. A pét-nat with a hard cheese is one of the easiest wins in wine.

Crisp, mineral whites, and do not rule out a light chilled red with oily fish or grilled seafood. Avoid heavy tannin, which turns metallic against fish.

A structured red with real tannin and acidity. Look in our full-body collection for wines with enough grip to stand up to char and fat.

Orange wine is the most reliable answer, because its tannin and texture handle roasted vegetables, pulses and umami far better than most whites. Light reds work well too.

It is one of the most food-friendly styles there is. The skin tannin gives it structure without the weight of a big red, which makes it work with spice, fermented flavours, cured meat and hard cheese.

Sulfur dioxide is an antioxidant and antimicrobial that stabilises wine and protects it in transit. Some is produced naturally by fermentation in every wine ever made, so no wine is truly sulfite-free. Our low-sulfite guide covers the detail.

Yes. See the no added sulfites collection and the low sulfites collection.

There is no good evidence that sulfites cause wine headaches for most people. Genuine sulfite sensitivity is rare and usually shows up as an asthmatic reaction, not a headache. Alcohol, dehydration and histamines are more likely culprits.

Much of it is, because most of what we carry is unfined. Fining agents such as egg white, casein and isinglass are animal-derived, and wines that skip fining are vegan by default. See the vegan collection and our vegan wine guide.

Wine is made from grapes and does not contain gluten. If you have a serious sensitivity, note that some producers historically sealed barrels with wheat paste, so ask us if a specific bottle concerns you.

Sometimes, because minimal-intervention winemakers rarely chaptalise and often pick earlier. But plenty of natural wine sits at 13% or 14%. Check the ABV listed on the product page.

Calories track alcohol and residual sugar, so a lower-alcohol dry wine will be lighter than a high-alcohol or sweet one. We do not publish per-bottle calorie counts, because we would be estimating.

The wines we carry are made with minimal or no additives, which is the whole point of low-intervention winemaking. Conventional wine production permits a long list of permitted additions that never appear on a label.

All wine contains histamines, and red generally more than white. If you react to wine, histamine is a more plausible cause than sulfites.

It is better for the soil, the vineyard workers and the water table, which is reason enough. Health claims about the drinker are harder to make honestly, so we do not make them.

We work with growers who farm responsibly, and the great majority farm organically or biodynamically, certified or otherwise. We do not make a blanket claim for every bottle, because some excellent small growers do not pay for certification.

Certification costs money and creates paperwork, which is a real burden on an estate making a few hundred cases. Many small growers farm to a higher standard than the certification requires and simply do not bother with the badge.

Organic certification varies by country, with the USDA in the States and equivalent national bodies in the EU. Biodynamic certification is handled mainly by Demeter and Biodyvin.

Much less than organic or biodynamic. Sustainable is a loose, largely self-defined term in wine, and it usually permits synthetic treatments that organic farming does not.

We work with small independent producers rather than large brands, and we choose the wines ourselves rather than accepting whatever a distributor is pushing. You can read hundreds of grower stories in our producer profiles.

Every bottle is packed by hand to survive transit. In hot months we ship with ice packs and a styrofoam insert on request, which protects the wine but is the least recyclable thing we use, so we only add it when it is needed.

We drop them. When serious allegations surfaced about a producer we carried, we said so publicly and stopped selling the wine. Our statement is still on the site.

Yes. Our events and bulk hub has a calculator that works out how many bottles you need from your headcount, event length and how wine-focused your crowd is, then sends the plan to us for a quote.

Request a quote with your plan and our team confirms case and volume pricing, freight to a single address, and any tax-exempt or invoicing needs. Larger orders get sharper pricing.

Usually within one business day, from a real person.

Roughly half a bottle per drinking guest for a few hours, more for a seated dinner. The calculator on the events page will give you a proper number and split it by wine type.

Tell us your event date in the quote and we schedule the shipment to arrive ahead of it, with room to spare for weather. An adult 21 or older must still be present to sign.

Yes. We can send curated bottles to multiple recipients with a personal message and coordinate the whole list for you. Start from the gifting option on the events page.

Yes. The plan is a recommendation, not a fixed order. Adjust reds, whites, rosé, orange and sparkling on the plan screen before you send it to us.

It is our free education hub, collecting everything we publish in one place: Wine 101, producer profiles, grape varietals, wine regions, appellations and the glossary. Start at the Wine Library.

More than 1,100 wine terms defined in plain English, from grape names to faults to farming vocabulary, filterable by category. See the wine glossary.

We publish a profile for the growers we work with. There are hundreds of them at producer profiles, covering where they farm, how they work and why we carry them.

A series of long-form guides explaining the fundamentals: how red and white wine are made, what natural, organic, biodynamic and vegan wine mean, and how to think about styles. Read them at Wine 101.

Yes, region by region. We cover Italy most deeply, along with France, Spain and Austria, plus a series on Italian appellations.

We maintain a where to buy natural wine series covering cities and regions across the country.

Yes. What we are tasting is a running feed of the bottles currently open on our table.

All of them are collected at reviews, alongside the star ratings shown on individual product pages.

Guido Cattabianchi, an Italian sommelier who was raised in Valpolicella, certified through FISAR, taught himself to code and built this shop from the ground up. He still handles customer conversations personally.

Los Angeles, California. We ship nationwide to 45 states.

To get honest natural, biodynamic and organic wine to every corner of the country, especially the places where it has always been hardest to find.

We are a retailer. We choose and sell the wine directly to you.

Email hello@primalwine.com or call (424) 414-2040, 9am to 5pm Pacific, seven days a week. There is also a form on the contact page.

Yes, and it is where new arrivals and allocations are announced first. Sign up from the footer of any page.

Get in touch with what you are looking for and we will tell you honestly whether we are the right fit.

Email us. We read every message, though we say no far more often than yes, because the list is deliberately small.

Our shipping and returns policy, terms of service, privacy policy and CCPA opt-out are all linked in the footer.