darling121

Silly question...I am a 20 yo and wanted to bring home wine from France. Will I have any trouble getting it through customs based on my age?
Thanks so much for your help!

bakedog

hopefully not, how much trouble would you really get into, I say go for it

fmpden

yes, of course, you are underage.

ira

Hi D,

From the US Customs website:

"Alcoholic Beverages: One liter (33.8 fl. oz.) of alcoholic beverages may be included in your exemption if:



# You are 21 years old.
# It is for your own use or as a gift.
# It does not violate the laws of the state in which you arrive.

annhig

Hi, y'all,

How are you planning to get this or any other liquids on the plane?

I, for one do not like putting wine in checked luggage - the extremes of temperature cannot be good for it. And as it's a liquid which has been purchased before you get through security, how are they going to let it through??? [unless you decant into a large number of 300ml bottles of course].

Or am i being overly cautious?

Has anyone brought wine through since the new european regulations have been in force?

regards, ann

ira

Hi ann,

>I, for one do not like putting wine in checked luggage - the extremes of temperature cannot be good for it.

So, how does the French wine that you buy in the US get here?

hopscotch

Not a chance until you are 21. Keep dreaming.

rex

I have always traveled with wine in my checked luggage. See http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=34422344 - - the last time I did it was May 2005. The prohibitions against liquids in carry-on luggage were not in place then. But I don't think that regulations have changed regarding wine in checked luggage.

I think that your age is a very real gamble. Don't buy more than you can afford to lose.

Best wishes,

Rex

fnarf999

The temperature in aircraft cargo holds isn't that bad. I can get quite hot for brief periods on the tarmac after loading, if the outside temperature is very high, but during flight it is not allowed to drop below 45 degrees Fahrenheit. If there are animals on board the forward area where they are kept is kept at 83 degrees F, which is hot for wine. Counter to widespread belief aircraft holds are pressurized the same as the passenger cabin; the pressure zone is the entire round aircraft skin, not just the above floor area.

You might get through without it, but the chances are excellent that it will be confiscated at Customs. You are unlikely to suffer any other penalties besides loss of the wine unless you make a fuss, in which case they can and will be very unpleasant.

When they take people's Cuban cigars away, and cut them up in front of you, any response other than an abject "yes, sir, I'm sorry, sir" will get you threats of arrest and mistreatment. I imagine underage wine possession would be treated the same way.

annw

Would they do anything worse than take the wine away, I wonder?

I bring back wine in checked luggage. I bring bubble wrap, wrap it, and layer clothing around it. Never a quality problem when it gets home.

2Italy

I bring back about 12-14 bottles every time we go and we wrap it in clothing and pack it in our checked luggage. We've never broken a bottle.

[email protected]

tomassocroccante

On a college trip a long time ago we discovered that yes, you do have to be 21. If not you will have the pleasure of emptying your own bottle into a sink, a procedure that obviously keeps the confiscated booty from causing battles among the customs agents ... !

IF you fail to declare alcohol (other than an over-21 traveler with a couple of minis, maybe, as they really don't care much about that), prepare to be treated worse. There is nothing that invites trouble more effectively than trying to get away with something.

The same goes for making purchases - I've seen a grown woman get into beaucoup trouble for having a suitcase filled with undeclared, brand new Paris clothes. Customs agents make occasionally look like apes, but they know what they're looking for. And they can give you the kind of blot on your name in every port of entry to the US that will get you examined carefully each time you come and go for a long time.

annhig

hi, Ira,

as I live in the UK, I assume it comes over on the ferry - but good point! [i don't like "New World wines much - perhaps it's because I can detect what being in the hold has done to them??? - no, my pallet ain't that good].

I hadn't realised that the whole aircraft is pressurised and therefore of a fairy even temperature - I'd asssumed the hold got as cold as the outside - silly me!

thanks for the info - though it really doesn't help the OP.

regards, ann

hopscotch

Dear annhig,

I lived in California and had a great selection. I sell wines part-time and love good red Burgundy, i.e. Pinot Noir. You folks in Europe should buy local wine. E.g., I have examined the shelves in Holland for California wines. It is all rubbish. Total rubbish.

"The good stuff at a good price" is only available where it is made. That goes for not only wine, but to other goods as well, especially perishable goods. The exception is where local taxes interfere. Export quality is the stuff that the locals won't digest. Z.B., do not buy a German beer in the Czech Republik.

Bewohner

annhig,

I think you were correct to be concerned about the temperature at which your wines are transported. Importers who ship thousands of bottles have huge economic incentives to make sure that the wine is not harmed by temperature in transit--money down the drain as it were. The temperature for most passenger baggage does not matter, however, and airlines therefore do not concern themselves with it.

As fnarf999 noted, your most likely problem is not the temperature in the cargo hold, but the temperature on the tarmac. Spending less than 30 minutes at 90 degrees can cook your wine beyond repair. If your flight is delayed and your plane is sitting on the runway on a hot July day . . . .

If you do decide to check your wine with the airline, here's a tip that has worked out well for me many times: using a shipping box designed for wine. It consists of a cardboard box with a solid preformed styrofoam container with individual slots for 12 bottles. In addition to being about the best prevention you could get for breakage, the styrofoam actually acts as an insulator. I always take such a box with me when I go wine tasting, as the temperature in the car can get sweltering, but the wine inside the box stays cool to the touch. Insulating your wine will better your chances both with the heat and handling. And they only cost about $10 or so.

annhig

hi, hopscotch and Bewohner,

thanks for the info. you guessed that i meant a "fairly" even temperature, not a fairy one!

Hopscotch - how i agree about the new world stuff on the shelves, especially the supermarkets. [mind you, most of the european bottles aren't that much better]. the latest scam is to price deliberately high then "reduce" to the price they thought they could sell it at in the first place. Just occasionally I spot a bargain.

Mostly we buy through a Wine club - they will take back without question what you don't like.

Bewohner - thanks for your very helpful suggestion. The trouble is that most of our wine purchases when flying have been impulse, so we've not been equipped. last time, we had been given a present of some rather nice german wine by our german friends - DH ended up carrying it all the way through security etc and cradling it on his lap! don't think we could do that now.

As we have trip to South Africa coming up, including a day in the winelands,
perhaps we should equip ourselves with the sort of box you describe - where would you get one from?

mind you, if we checked it separately from the luggage, as we have two connections to make, the likelihood of its making it home is remote. do you put the container in your luggage or check it separately?

regards, ann

GoneTomorrow

Spending less than 30 minutes at 90 degrees can cook your wine beyond repair

Bewohner, I wondering what your source is for that statement. I have been in the wine business for over 30 and have never seen or heard that statement. Wines are really pretty tough. Improper storage over time can damage wines and I certainily would not store any wine at that temperature for extended period of time -- say several weeks. But a few hours in a plane or on the luggage rack isn't going to make much difference. Wrap it well and send it in your checked luggage. It will be fine.

msx2

Is there someone who could then answer this question:
How were all of my foreign exchange students (France age 13, Spain age 14 and Peru age 12) able to bring brandy/alcohol to us as a gift? They had it in their checked luggage and entered the US either through Chicago,Atlanta or New Jersey- no problems.

rex

Ummm... they weren't suspected, they weren't detected, and they didn't self-report.

This does not really help in giving advice to darling121.

It's not permitted. That doesn't mean that the rules make sense. A 20 yo can die for his/her country, but can't have a beer.

Still, as with many rules and regulations, many defy them and get away with it.

Bewohner

annhig said: "where would you get one from? [snip] do you put the container in your luggage or check it separately?"

I obtained one from a firm that specializes in shipping wine, finding one or asking a winery about local shipping firms would be a good start. I check mine separately, but if you got a smaller one (say that holds 6 bottles), you could fit it inside your luggage.

GoneTomorrow said: "I wondering what your source is for that statement. I have been in the wine business for over 30 and have never seen or heard that statement."

Hmmm, I definitely have had wines that have suffered from heat damage from being transported (by me, no less!) at that temperature for no more than an hour. The wine has expanded and pushed itself out through the cork, leaving a residue inside the capsule. The wine had been okay for immediate consumption, but faded quickly in quality.

Some places where I've seen warnings about heat and wine have been the Wine Lovers Page:

http://tinyurl.com/2p74sa

"We're locked in the worst heat wave of this summer in these parts, with temperatures soaring into the upper 90s (over 35C) and a mean sun blazing from a cloudless sky. [snip] The dangerous heat inside a closed car on a torrid summer day can damage wine (and melt your ice cream and TV dinners) in a very short time."

and thewinedoctor.com:

http://tinyurl.com/jpb22
"Temperatures above this sort of level, at 20ºC and beyond, rapidly sound the death knell for most wines. As a general rule, the higher the temperature, the less exposure is required to kill the wine. Just a short exposure to a temperature of 30ºC can damage a wine."

And, of course, it isn't hard to find shippers who make similar claims (though of course they have economic incentives to hype the risk):

http://www.vipmayflower.com/domestic/moving_wine.html
"Not only does excessive heat cause the wine to expand and push the cork out, but it can also spoil the wine. A few minutes in 90 degree weather alone can ruin an entire wine collection."

I agree that wines can be pretty hardy and can handle some short-run temperature variation without much risk. I may be a bit gun-shy because I have suffered from heat damage in the past, but I would be very concerned about wine on the tarmac on a very hot day.