Shipping wine from Italy to the US

During COVID, I had wine and olive oil shipped from Chianti, winery is Roberto Bechi's, Madonna Bella.

You cannot ship wine from Italy to the US by USPS. You must have it done by a licensed shipper. (Most wineries can do this for you.) Anything over 1 liter is subject to import duties.

Additionally, some states limit the amount of wine that can be imported into the state unless you are licensed to do so. So check your state laws.

Shipping Wine to the USA

We shipped wine home from Bellagio two years ago. We had to go thru a licensed wine shop and they used FedEx. If I remember correctly, it cost us $80. The shipping was more than the 4 bottles of wine. If you find a larger winery, they sometimes have a distributor in the US.

This was still in Tuscany, although not in Chianti. The winery took care of all the shipping. Two couples from Finland bought much more than we did, so the winery is used to accommodating customers from different places, and has arranged methods to make that happen.

I would politely suggest that you make sure that you can't buy the wine you may contemplate purchasing in the United States. I collect wine but no longer ship wine home from our travels to Europe since you can buy most wines made in wine regions like Chianti in the U.S.. Certainly there are smaller wineries that don't export to the U.S. but in my experience, most wineries in Europe generally export to the United States and it is easier to have someone else import the wine. If a bottle that I taste in our travels is very special, I have been known to take a bottle or two home in my luggage but that is a rare occurrence. Just a suggestion.

Thanks everyone
We usually wrap bottles in our luggage and over 20 years have never broken a bottle
This year we will probably do the same

we also bring home wine from our travels, usually from smaller, family owned wineries that don't ship to the U.S. The wine is less expensive so if there is an issue it isn't a great loss. We like the bubble wrap packaging that can be ordered on Amazon. Between the two of us, we have occasionally brought home up to 10 bottles. Never a mishap and makes for nice memories when we enjoy it.

I am leaving for Italy in 2 days. We are allowed up to 1 liter bottles and 70 lbs in our suitcase. I am bringing my large suitcase, filled with 10 plastic inflatable wine sleeves so that we have room to bring bottles home with us. We are planning on bringing good quality olive oil and wine home with us.

Westie_mom, if you’re an aficionado, don’t forget to also bring home some authentic Parmigiano Reggiano, half the price you’ll pay in the USA. A shop vacuum-packed our wedges for easy transport.

Westie_Mom. A bottle of wine is 750ml, so you are "allowed" 1.5 bottles of wine per person duty free. In theory, you are supposed to pay a duty on anything over 1.5 bottles. I don't think it is worth their time at customs to deal with it. We have brought back amounts over 3 bottles many times and never charged for it. When they ask what I have, I say, "some wine" and. . . . Then they send me on.

By no means am I an afficiando but good call on bringing home cheese. Quality balsamic too.

Margie,
When we lived abroad, I brought home several bottles ticked into my boots and wedged between socks. Like you, I never was hassled or had to pay extra customs for extra bottles.

Periscope…yep and worth not having to worry about breakage, extreme temp changes, etc. after watching the way luggage is handled at the airport, I’m amazed that I have gotten anything breakable back in one piece.

The shipping cost could be different depending by the winery, You could expect 100/150€ for a box of 6 bottles (plus the value of the bottles, of course). Large wineries who do a lot of small shipment probably have better rates, because they deal a lower fare with the shipper (UPS; DHL, FedEx....).
As Tim says probably bigger wineries have dealers in US, but like for Parmigiano the bottle cost could be at least twice the cost in Italy. And depends where you live! Probably if you live in New York you easily find a shop with the wine, but if you live in a town far from main cities could be hard find the wine.