I am going to be in France soon. I will be visiting some of my favorite wineries in the Rhone, Languedoc, and Bandol. I want to buy a lot of wine, especially that which I cannot get in the states. But, how do I get it back? I know I could shove a few bottles in my luggage, but I want to buy several cases. I could ship it, but I worry about temperature control in transit. I also would have no idea how to find a place to ship it.

Any advice is appreciated.

Many wineries will ship. You have to know your state regulations; there are many threads on this subject here. Try a search and you will get at least a few answers.

You can also bring a case as checked luggage.

Thanks. My state allows shipping. In fact, since recent Supreme Court decision, I think all do now. I would be scared to check a case of wine knowing what my luggage goes through.

Hi

When I went to Italy last year I bought a couple of wine bottles. As you are not allowed to carry liquids anymore I had to show it into my suitcase. The winery that we went to provided some great boxes in some sort of styrofoam so the bottles were well protected. Have a great trip and hope that you find lots of good wine to buy

Regards
Gard
http://gardkarlsen.com - trip reports and pictures

Here is what I do:

1) Bring one of those collapsible luggage carts and a sharpie.

2) Buy shipping boxes at the destination. These are the ones with styrofoam or compressed scrap inserts to hold the bottles. I've had good luck just getting them from wineries, though mostly in the US.

3) Pack up the boxes.

4) Write you name and address on the box with the sharpie.

5) Load them on the luggage cart.

6) Check the boxes as luggage. Each case should come in just under 50 pounds. Even if you have to pay for excess baggage, it should be cheaper than shipping.

Works like a charm. There are also some wine luggage pieces, but at $100+ for the luggage, I prefer the boxes.

autier17: Can you provide any more info on the Supreme Court decision you mentioned? Our state does not allow shipping and I haven't heard of this.

FYI - We shipped some wine from CA last year and the padded case that the shipper provided especially for wine was very sturdy and I think it would be safe to check on the plane.

cindyj: This site should give you some information about the status of shipping laws in your state:

http://freethegrapes.com/

The short answer is that the Supreme Court decision was that states had the right to limit direct-to-consumer shipments, BUT that such limits had to apply equally to in-state and out-of-state wineries. It was not a judgement that consumers had a right to receive wine shipments, but rather that states cannot put up unfair barriers to trade for out-of-state wineries. If a state does not allow shipments from any winery, then they are in compliance with the ruling. Similarly, if the state limits shipments to a single case or requires other regulatory hurdles, and applies this to all wineries, then this would also be in compliance.

It's not just the state laws you have to worry about when having a winery ship directly to you. The new bio-terrorism laws in the food and drug legislation make it very difficult to ship liquids to the US and I heard from a number of French wineries last year that they had stopped shipping to the US for customers because of too many bad experiences (e.g. having the wine destroyed on arrival, etc). Don't buy more than you can bring back yourself in checked luggage and you won't have to worry about the bio-terrorism regulations.