Plaintiff, a German wine producer and exporter in Rotterdam, Germany contracted to ship 620 cases of wine to the defendant, a distributor in Wilmington, North Carolina. The contract did not specify the shipment as destination.
Defendant called repeatedly to find out the status of the shipment and was not given a shipping date.
Later, without notifying the defendant, the plaintiff delivered the wine to a shipping line in Rotterdam, destined for Wilmington, N.C. The ship and the wine were lost at sea en route to Wilmington. When the defendant refused to pay on the contract, the plaintiff sued.
Using the UCC rules, which party wins? Why?