How many bottles of wine can I bring from Canada to the US? The Canada Border Patrol website seems to be easier to find this information than the US one. I am seeing something about 1 Liter per person. How many bottles is a liter? I am thinking two?

<How many bottles is a liter?>

Depends on the size of the bottle. The standard wine bottle is 750ml, but there are also litre bottles and half bottles (e.g. ice wine) at 375 ml.

You can bring 1 litre of alcohol duty free to the U.S., but more if you pay duty and IRS Excise tax. The total number of bottles you can import apparently depends upon the state into which you are importing it.

A litre is approximately a quart.

We overbought at the duty free once and they actually made us pull over and pay duty. It was no big deal. We just had to go into security, they looked at our bottles and totaled up like $11. We actually had to pay less on the stuff made in North America because of NAFTA. I think we had some Kentucky whiskey and Mexican tequila that was cheaper than our Irish cream. AND I got to overhear some border guard talking about smuggled monkeys!

So, I'm saying you are allowed to bring a truck load over, you just have to pay for it. So bring what you think you'll want, don't lie to the border guard, and chances are they will let you sail right through. At the very worst, you will waste some time and a little money.

We bring cases of wine back over the border several times a year... although there is a limit of one bottle per person duty free, each additional bottle is only 11 cents duty.... the key is to tell the inspector exactly how many bottles you have in the car... they now have Gamma Ray scanners that "see" a shadow of everything in the car... if you lie or hide the bottles, they will call you on the bluff...

There is a huge tourist draw to the wine region and for only 11 cents they are not likely to pull you over ... too much paperwork and hassle... if you go to Duty Free, the transaction with your car plates is registered for the inspector and lying about what you bought is easily caught....

Don't worry, be honest and you will skate through customs...

Thanks, I think I do remember something about the 11 cents. Last time we had two bottles and just went on through.