Bringing Wine Home
 

I am traveling to France in a few weeks, am a wine-lover, and I am interested in anyone's experience in bringing wine home from France.

From what I understand, mailing wine home is not the way to go because the customs charges bring up any local savings to the price (or more) or purchasing them in the US.

I have been told "just hand carry two rare (or your most favorite) bottles with you home on the plane.

Does anyone have any other suggesstions? Is there a limit to how much one can hand carry on the airplane or store in checked baggage?

The only wine you can hand carry on a plane is that which you buy in the security zone of your departing airport. Then if you have to make a connection anyplace after that you have the honor of donating that wine to the security forces in your connecting airport.

This subject has been discussed innumerable times here at Fodor's. Put <b>wine</b> in the search box above for an encyclopedia of information. There are several issues involved.

I usually bring a lot of packing plastic bubble wraps from home and lovingly wrap my wine purchases with them. I have done this multiple times and haven't had any problems with customs or the bottles broken inside the suitcase.

I have bought alcohol in a duty-free shop and carried it home in my back-pack, and I'd like to say that I probably wouldnt do it again (maybe because the trip was from Singapore to Detroit, too cumbersome). Good luck, you will love France.

&quot; the honor of donating that wine to the security forces in your connecting&quot;...

What an excellent way to put it! Along with my foie gras, the security forces must have a wonderful picnic!

Just drink as much of it as you can while you're there.

Wine is heavy. It's a major PITA to carry home and unless you're a real connoisseur you may well end up bringing back stuff you can easily buy at home.

Sant&eacute;!

I just returned from France with five bottles of wine and a bottle of cognac in my suitcase, along with two bottles of duty-free alcohol which I carried on board. I am not recommending this, just letting you know that you can pack wine with little problem if you bring the bubble wrap. The expense from mailing wine is principally in the shipping price, not in the customs charges.

Prices at CDG duty-free, by the way, do not always represent a great savings over prices in the US if you factor in the exchange rate. I found that I could buy many products, especially wine and many liquors as well, for less money in New York. So do not assume that everything is a great deal.

Totally agree you can do it in your luggage, but have also had the same experience as Hopscotch re:connectors and security...we bought two bottles of Lemoncello in the duty free shop in Venice. They put them in &quot;special&quot; plastic duty free bags that seal closed so you can't open them w/o it being obvious. Great in Italy, but when we made our connection in NY the &quot;special&quot; bags we no longer so special...fortunately they let us shove them in our checked bags that we had just brought through customs, otherwise the security guys would have scored two more bottles of alcohol for free. :)

If you are connecting in the States or anywhere else you simply cannot bring wine in your carry-on. So it will be in you checked bags or not at all.

(if you have a non-stop all the way - then you can have it in your carry-on)

You can purchase styrofoam containers to check a case of wine in with your baggage. Most wineries and/or wine shops should have them for about 7-10 Euro. ((b))

I had a VERY hard time finding bubble wrap in France. Time and time again I was told that it was for sale only for commercial use in big rolls. So bring your own. And none of the wineries we visited had any kind of packing material. (These were small wineries around Galliac for the most part, but even Martell Cognac did not have any..)

I should add that I recommend bringing more bubble wrap than you think you will need. Even though half my suitcase was stuffed with it (!!) I still had to hunt for more in France to pack my goodies! I ended up receiving some as a gift from a brocante dealer who happen to be packing up for a large fair that weekend and had a large roll on hand in the shop.

We've brought wine back from every one of our trips to France and Italy - in our suitcase. No bubble wrap or special styrofoam was used. We did often have the cardboard carriers that the store provided.

Packed them in the middle of a hardsided 24&quot; suitcase individually wrapped with clothing and surrounded by other apparel and have never had a bottle break yet! We do however put the bottles in a couple of plastic bags in case of breakage.

Budman, how much wine did you bring home??

Just one case, and two bottles of limoncello. How was the rest of your trip? ((b))

I have always found rolls of bubble wrap at the Office Depot stores in Paris.

Budman,

When you &quot;checked&quot; a case of wine along with your other checked luggage, when you hassled or charged at customs?

When you connect in the US do you have to get your checked baggage? If not, then it seems that checking a case of wine like luggage would not be an issue...

We are connecting in NYC and I am not sure what the process is, and just want it to go smooth. Thanks!

We didn't have to connect as we flew from Zurich direct to Newark.

If you are connecting, you have to collect all your luggage and go thru customs, then recheck it to your forwarding flight.

When we went thru customs, the agent said: &quot;What do you have in that box?&quot; I told her a case of wine, and she just waived me thru -- no problems. The cost/paperwork to charge me customs for still wine would have been more than it would have been worth.

After you go thru customs, recheck your case of wine on your fowarding airline. No problem. ((b))

In six trip to France I have taken 6 bottles of wine home with me. I put each bottle in a sock and space them out in my suitcase. Never had a problem. When I go through customs I tell them that I have 6 bottle of wine. Never had a problem.

My niece brought home 13 bottles of wine (yes, you are seeing correctly) home from France (2004).

She packed them in between her clothes. She had a 22&quot; suitcase and a tote. No breakage, no trouble at the airport. Certainly I wouldn't recommend this, but it can be done! :)

Some places will let you take x numbers of alcohol with you. Don't sweat it...if you are over, just pay the fine!