Wine as "checked" luggage

I bought my alcohol from smaller stores and they wrapped my bottles in bubble wrap and cardboard. I then wrapped that up with my dirty clothes and checked my luggage. My alcohol made it back home all in one piece!

Why by European wine when the dollar is so weak and American wines are just as good if not better and you don't have to subject yourself to the problems involved with transport?

The standard cardboard with paperboard dividers is probably not enough padding to service baggage handling. You may be able to find a wine shipping box in Italy if the store or winery routinely ships. It is a cardboard box with styrofoam inserts with pockets shaped like bottles. A back-up might be to bring a cloth duffel bag folded up in your bag. On the way home, pack the wine in your luggage and check, put the excess stuff in the duffel and carry on. If you go to the extreme, once I bought a low cost plastic "trunk" in Europe and packed wine in that and checked.

Presumably, if you are going to the trouble of bringing back wine, it is good wine. You will be buying a case from a good wine merchant or winery. For a fee they will pack and ship the wine for you. I bought a case of assorted Brunello's last year from Enotecca Vanni in Lucca, 2001 and 99 and 97 Vintages....he handled all of the packaging and shipping for about 10% of the cost of the wine. All made it back in good condition.

Better check with your airline in advance. I've read that Alitalia will not allow you to check alcohol of any kind, period.

Shipping alcohol is forbidden by US postal service & against company policy of FedEX & UPS. Don't know about DHL. I've successfully shipped wine home from Europe, but others have said the wine made it as far as New York then the shipper called & said they can't deliver it. It kind of depends on the mood of the person checking the box's contents.

On my next trip I plan to buy the Rick Steves 21" Rollaboard. At just 7 pounds, it's the lightest suitcase I've found. With plenty of foam padding, it can carry a case of wine and still come in just under the weight limit for checked luggage.

Also see the article HERE

What about drinking European wine over there but buying it here, in dollars, from a good wine store when you get back here?

Ok, this is the second post to mention buying the wine back here in the States. What are the current price differentials between buying abroad (plug shipping) and buying in the States? For example, I was hoping to bring back some Brunellos, which are pretty expensive here.

One other concern I have is availability. When I was in Germany this past October, I was told more than once by the locals that I would not be able to find many of the good wines we were having back in the States - in the words of one German, "we keep the best wine here and export the rest!"

Bryan: Here's a link that discusses those exact issues from a prior discussion had here a few months ago: clickAnd you can find several more discussions of the subject by searching on "wine" in the search box, upper right.

I don't bring wine back from Europe to save money. I bring it back because, a year later, it's wonderful to open a bottle I picked up in a store in Beaune France or some place in Italy, and enjoy it while thinking about the day and place I bought it. It's about the memories more than about drinking the wine, though I do enjoy the wine!

But on the subject of "you can get all this at your local wine store", I'd like to see you come to my dry county in rural Arkansas and buy a bottle of Brunello! Perhaps if I made the 4-hour round trip drive to Memphis, and drove around the city a while, I could find these wonderful stores y'all are talking about, but where I live it's a 1-hour round trip just to buy a bottle Riunite!

As to whether or not you can buy the same wines here in the US that you will find and drink in Europe, it all depends on what you drink. My experience is the more expensive the wine, the less of it there is in the US. As I noted above, I went into a single enoteca and bought a case of Brunello, not one bottle less than 95 points WS. I bought a vertical tasting of Casanova di Neri Cerretalto, '97 @ 95 pts, '99 @ 97 pts and 2001 at 100 pts, I bought two bottles of Valdicava Madonna del Piano Riserva, 2001 @ 100 points, 2 bottles of Marchesi De Frescobaldi Castelgiocondo Ripe al Convento Riserva 2001 @ 97 pts, and two bottles of Siro Pacenti 2001 @ 97 pts, and a '97 bottle of Antinori Pian della Vigne @ 97 pts...and two other's (I can't remember the names). I live in N. CA...heart of wine country and I can't buy these wines anywhere else but Italy!

Bryan, poster Patrick has the right idea. It's not just about saving money. Now, it's true that even at any price, here in the US the selection is not so good. When you go into an enoteca in Montalcino, the sheer number of Brunellos available causes heart palpitations. We told a baggage handler in Heathrow once that "hang time" with our luggage was unwanted since we had breakable wine in it. He told us we should mark it "fragile" and notify the baggage check folks of this fact. So I imagine your idea of using an adequate shipping for checked baggage should work. I can't imagine this is any different than a similarly fragile checked item, like glass artwork or something. But...I'd make sure the specific airline doesn't have some kind of rule against it.

Regarding the relative cost, I'm guessing that the discount you'd receive in a Montalcino wine shop compared to a US wine shop is about 25%. But others may have a better idea of this figure.

Also: Rosso de Montalcino..save $

Bryan,

I totally agree with Kent. If anything, bring back just one bottle of your favorite wine.

Greg

Bryan,

I totally disagree with Kent. If anything, bring back all you can carry. A year from now, when you open and enjoy a bottle, you'll forget the bit of trouble you had bringing it home and you'll cherish the memories it brings to you of wonderful times in a wonderful place.

It's worth it to bring it back but you don't need an extra box. Simply wrap the wine bottle in a few T-shirts (or bring bubble wrap) and place it in the center of a suitcase. I have done this twice (once from France and once from Mexico (tequila there)) and it shouldn't be a problem. Do be aware that you may have to pay duty if you bring back more than 1 bottle per person.

Patrick - The rules against shipping wine vary by state. I would guess that it's not allowed in Arkansas. But is allowed in Oregon and the Postal Service, UPS, Fed Ex will all deliver here. A wine agent in Italy will know to check.

And I agree, wine brings back great memories.

I was asking a question to see if the poster had thought of the other option. If a person feels it is worth the effort and cost to bring wine back, that's what they should do. This is not something where there is a right and wrong decision.

Doug, if you do some checking you'll find that, legally, the postal service cannot ship wine to any state. Granted, some may get through due to postal clerks not knowing the regulations or not knowing what's really in the boxes, but legally it's forbidden.

I've also read plenty of reports where UPS and FedEx refused it. Again, they don't catch it all, but they refuse it occasionally as company policy, and people should know that when they consider shipping wine home. It might arrive fine, but it might not.

You CAN mail order wine in the USA. Among others, there is a thriving wine store in NY that has a huge catalog and ships all over the USA (there are a few states that prohibit this but not Arkansas)!

www.sherry-lehmann.com