Wine shipping to the U.S.?

Shipping wine to the US, a case at a time, adds unnecessary expense. Enjoy your wine tasting, but purchase your wines from local sources at home. Costco is the world's largest wine retailer and there are plenty of specialized retailers ready to sell you anything you might want.

It should be no problem bring home at least 2 or 3 bottles in your checked luggage per person, as long as you don't pack too heavy. Declare it when you enter the USA, and it will not be enough for customs bother charging you even if there was enough to do so.

I have only ever shipped wine from the Burgundy and Bordeaux regions so I do not know specifically about the Loire Valley but every winery where I did a tasting in the two regions I mentioned had shipping services. In addition, there were wine stores in the major wine producing towns that also had shipping services. Shipping cost varied. It was super easy and very professional. Most wineries and shippers will not ship during the heat of the summer so you must trust the process because you are paying up front and the waiting until October to receive your wine. Perhaps the same is true of the Loire Valley -- I am willing to bet it is for Sancerre. For us, it was worth it because we bought some very specific wines that my husband was looking for that were unavailable in the US or if available were only at high end restaurants for $300 and up per bottle. And there is also checkable wine luggage. That is what we use now if we want to bring more than one or two bottles of wine from France.

We have shipped wine to US from all around France. Most wineries offer shipping (the discounts depend on the number of bottles being shipped, just like in the US.) There are also shipping consoladators from where you can ship wine if you happen to visit a winery that does not offer shipping to the US (typically a very small winery.) Keep in mind, you will pay the shipping fee then there will be another fee you will need to pay upon receipt (this is new within the last 3 years as we never had this fee before.) I had thought this new upon receipt fee was just for our state (Washington State) but we shipped wine from France to a couple other states and were also charged the same receipt fee. It wasn't much but (the first time) was unexpected. Chin chin!

You are allowed to bring in one liter of alcohol duty free. After that, you can be charged for the excess amount. (They usually don't charge if you declare but they can.)

However, you cannot personally ship wine to the US. It has to be done by a licensed shipper who will more than likely include U.S. customs fees in their pricing. (Yes, you do have to pay customs duty on shipped wine.)

For CNDP our wine tour guide Olivier Hickman was happy to arrange shipping of whatever we tasted. If you haven't already scheduled a tour or weren't going to do a tour I still would highly recommend him. We found him through RS. We had him for two different wine tours with two different groups. Both were excellent. He was great with one of our groups some of whom was their first time wine tasting. And he was just as great with the other group who including some very sophisticated. He was happy to include any particular interests in planning what was a private tour for us. https://www.wine-uncovered.com/about-olivier-hickman/

For a winery in Provence near our rental house they were happy to arrange purchase and shipping by email after we got home. They arranged it through some kind of broker. We just had the winery contact information from our tasting and followed up later.

We had wine shipped from a wine shop in St Emillion last summer. They didn’t ship until the weather had cooled down and I was getting a little nervous, but it came through just fine and it was wine that wasn’t available in the U.S. We had been on a river cruise and didn’t love any of the wine tastings, but one guide suggested her wine shop and they were great. We’ve never had to pay anything after delivery. It ships to our son’s business because someone’s always there, so I don’t know if that makes a difference.

FrankII, I thought liquor import was a state by state issue?

"FrankII, I thought liquor import was a state by state issue?"

It's state by state for delivering it/bringing it to any particular state but you have to cross international border to enter the United States and that is managed at the federal level by US Customs and Border Patrol. That is who will charge and collect the duty.

While at a winery of interest, ask them if they have a distributor (importer) in your state. They should know. If so, you can order through a shop that uses that distributor. We did that once, and found there was a distributor in our neighboring state, and we ordered some bottles through a retailer across the state line.

I have a great wine shop near me. They are very knowledgeable. Have a pretty good selection and good pricing. They have 2 Los Angeles locations so you may want to familiarize yourself with their selection before you go.

https://www.klwines.com/Company/Contact

FrankII, I thought liquor import was a state by state issue?

Some states do not allow wine to be brought into the state for personal use or limits the amount without the receiver having an import license.

I didn't mention it because the OP is from California and they do allow it.

But first, the wine must enter the US. CBP will first enforce federal import laws and duties involved.

But they will also enforce the state law of the state they are in. So if the state you arrive in does not allow it, CBP won't allow it.

So, if you are bringing in alcohol from another country you have to deal with both federal and state law.

Just in case someone from Texas reads this:

Texas Alcoh. Bev. Code Section 107.07
Importation for Personal Use; Importation by Railroad Companies

(a) A person may import not more … 3 gallons of wine … for the person’s own personal use without being required to hold a permit. A person importing alcoholic beverages into the state under this subsection must pay the state tax on alcoholic beverages and an administrative fee of $3 and must affix the required tax stamps. …. A person importing alcoholic beverages under this subsection must personally accompany the alcoholic beverages as the alcoholic beverages enter the state.

(f) Except as provided by Chapter 54 (Out-of-state Winery Direct Shipper’s Permit), any person in the business of selling alcoholic beverages in another state or country who ships or causes to be shipped any alcoholic beverage directly to any Texas resident under this section is in violation of this code.

Every state is different. The last state we lived in required that any importation of wine be done through a local wine distributor. We didn't try that.

You can also bring a case on the plane making sure it is packed very well. Wineries will do this. My son did this several times and never broke a bottle. You of course declare it and it arrives as ordinary checked luggage. You can be charged customs but he never was.

We have brought a bottle or two in checked luggage when we ended up with very good wine we didn't drink while there but didn't ever plan to bring wine home. It travels well in checked luggage.

Thankfully, those states that impose restrictions on import aren't typically there at the airport to notice anyway. If it passes the feds, I wouldn't think twice about it.

I researched all the options for bringing wine back from France, but ultimately decided to order the wines I liked when I returned to the U.S. I'm a budget casual drinker, not a connoisseur or collector. Using a wine shipper will cost as much as the wine itself. If I were to make frequent trips for French wine, I might invest in specialty wine luggage, but I couldn't justify the cost for a single trip, and of course you have to pay to check the luggage. Some people bring an empty suitcase and fill it up with wine well-wrapped between clothes. But then you have an extra large suitcase to lug around and we packed very light. The wineries must know this is a dilemma for international travelers. I never felt any pressure to buy a bottle. Most of the time I was already paying for the tasting. Take good notes, put a star next to your favorites, and take a picture of the bottle label. If you shop online, it will be easier to recognize the bottle you are looking for with those little thumbnail images. We bought a few bottles to consume, brought back one for aging and one I wanted to drink on a beach, and had to check a carry-on for the return trip.

We have shipped wine home from several countries with no issues (italy, croatia, france, spain, Argentina). We have found most wineries will ship and as others have mentioned also wine shops where you can do a mixed case from various vineyards. Shipping has been reasonable IMHO. We also have a wine suitcase that holds a case and weighs under 50 lbs when full. We use that when we are not doing any or much train travel and fill it with the 1 or 2 bottles we like but do not want to ship a full or half case home from that winery or if shipping is not possible (such as Montenegro). We always seem to have a few extra we put in our regular suitcases. Many wineries will ship you cases after you return if you would like more or decide to purchase later. We do check to see if we can purchase the wine in the US and what the price is. We typically visit smaller boutique wineries and usually cannot easily acquire it here.

Ifyou want to use a suitcase rather than having a case packed for shipping, then take your small carry on inside an empty large suitcase and then on the return you can pack that suitcase with well padded bottles of wine. Declare it and you may have to pay customs, but often they dn't bother.

Have shipped wine only to Michigan. Figure about $15 per bottle based on a case. Have not had any issues. We do it for the memories. Have only done it via the winery where we are tasting. Interesting discussion.

We were just in France a month ago. Our daughter brought back 5 bottles of wine in her carry-on size suitcase that she checked. We had a packable duffle that she put many of her clothes in. She packed things pretty tight with cushioning between bottles. We hadn’t planned on bringing any back, so we weren’t quite prepared as we usually are.

In the past, we have also gotten Wine Skins (the Container Store used to carry them) and successfully brought wine back. In addition, we have reused the skins, too. She did declare, but didn’t need to pay any duty.

In addition, she and her dad enjoyed the wine throughout our trip.