We will be in Tuscany in may and want to bring back several different wines. What is the best way to do this? Ship it? How much can we bring back in our luggage?

Theoretically you can bring back 1 liter/person without duty. In reality customs officials seem to just ignore this. Whether you can ship it to your home depends on your state laws. It is eyewateringly expensive to ship and it is heavy to carry. If you are really planning to bring some back you might want to take a box with styrofoam packing inserts with you to bring it back as luggage.

We used to bring back 6 to 8 bottles of wine, some in our checked luggage and some carried on board. The new weight limitations on checked luggage will now come into play, as will the fact that we are allowed only one carry-on. So from now on it will have to be only something we can't get at home.

There is no federal legal limit, but there is a limit on what you can import ("bring in&quot before you have to pay duty. In practical terms, this seems to be what will fit in your luggage; perhaps two dozen bottles.

But it is actually your state ABC (Alcoholic Beverages Commission) that has jurisdiction over your importing without a license; this is true even for driving your car across state lines - - and it applies also to the state in which your gateway (arriving) airport is located.

There are legendary stories of a state ABC official confiscating everything a traveler has brought back - - but I don't know how much they are urban myths.

There are increasingly some stories reported here of being able to ship wine back; that, too, depends on state law. For example, it is not legal to ship wine from ANYwhere to ANYwhere that is located in the state of Indiana.

Be prepared for your wine vendor to be unable/unwilling to do it. It might depend on your creativity if you can box it up and label it as something else to ship it on your own with DHL, MBE, etc. And to cost 100-200% of what you spend on the wine, in some cases.

(whoops, did I just give you information that you might use to deceive government officials, and break the law? Rewind... )



Best wishes,

Rex

If they do stop you at customs, the duty on still wine is very cheap. It's much higher on spirits.

You can buy a wine shipping box, sturdy cardboard, at most wine merchants or wineries, and check it with your checked baggage -- there's 12 bottles, plus you can carry 2-3 with your carry-on.

Bringing you message back up "to the top", since it is your first message here, ever...

On a tour through the Chianti region last May I could not resist 16 bottles of wonderful Brunello's, mostly 97's.
When I arrived in Florence I went to the large food market and purchased styrofoam wine sleeves that held 3 bottles (1 euro each). I then purcheased packing/shipping ptape and tape the 4 bottoms of the sleeves together,then the tops. I then filled then with 12 bottles of precious cargo and taped the top and bottom very securely. I packed 2 bottles in each of our suitcases.When we arrived in Venice airport for our flight home I checked them into "excess baggage" (no charge).
When we went through customs I declared all 16 bottles and they whisked me through and told me to enjoy my wine. I am!!

If this is a once in a lifetime trip to Europe, bring back the maximum that your state allows. Otherwise, spare yourself the enormous weight excess and just enjoy the wine while there and find \some good alteratives once you're home. Lugging home a lot of wine is more hassle than it's worth. Drink as much as you can while there and call it a day.

I disagree with the previous post. We go back every year and we enjoy bringing the wine back. We have palnned it out and move iy around in suitcases with wheels so we rarely have to lift it. Our greatest pleasure was opening a great bottle of 97 Brunello that we had purchsed and sharing it and the story of how we brought it back, with some close friends.Not to mention that we paid 38.00 for a bottle that sells for over $100 if you can even find it..

I have never had a problem bringing back wine from France. I bring back six bottles on each trip. When I pack for my trip I include six old white socks and when I am packing for my return trip I put a sock around each bottle and place them in the middle of my suitcase and between layers of clothes. I have never had a bottle broken.

Thank all of you for your helpful suggestions. I feel certain we will bring at least a few bottles home.

Just drink as much as you can while you're there. Different states have different regs about how much you can bring back, but I've found the Ag people don't pay much attention to people bringing wine home from Europe. Problem is, the stuff is heavy, so I long ago gave up hauling it back to the States.

I sort of agree with StCirq although we usually bring back about 6 bottles between the four of us. It depends on if I find something good at a decent price. I have also learned to taste everything before hauling it back to the US. Reviews or ratings only help you so far. I do not however necessarily agree with the cost savings noted above. I can in my state get pretty good prices on almost any wine that is available and I find the cost of buying it abroad and bringing it home usually only saves me $10 to $20 a bottle at the most. Recently I brought back some 2001 Numanthia from Spain only to find the prices here to be almost the same. A few years ago when the dollar was strong I noticed that the super Tuscans and Brunellos were about $20+ less expensive in Italy than where I live but certainly not triple cost. One example that comes to mind is a 97 Lisini that was E28 in Siena and Florence (costs seem to vary around E6 depending on what store) and $44 in a store in the US.
You have to decide if these savings are worth the trouble of bringing wine back with you. Now if it is a wine you cannot find in the US and you like it I would bring some home with you. The Cloudy Bay Te Koko S. blanc is one example that comes to mind. I think you will probably have no problems brining back all the wine you can carry. Whether you wish to do so is another matter.

Just so everyone is clear, the IS a federal limit on the amount of alcohol which can be brought tax-free into the US by returning citizens.

Generally you are allowed one liter as part of your $800/1600 "duty free" exemption, i.e., the amount of stuff you can bring back from abroad without paying federal customs duty. Any amount in excess of that is dutiable at 3 percent, plus any Internal Revenue Service tax Take a look at the guide put together by the US Customs Services at customs.ustreas.gov. Click on "Travel" on the main page and then "Know Before you Go" to get to the import duty section.

Thus, you can bring in 100 bottles if you want, but only the first litre is free from US customs tax.

If you are married, you will have an exemption of $1600, if you are single, you will have a limit of $800. That means everything you buy on your trip should be in the aggregate less than $800/$1600 for two. Above that amount, you will pay a duty of 3% on every $1,000 of items. (If you are married the flat duty rate is on $2000 worth of items.) The percentages increase on a sliding scale after the first flat duty rate.

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.

But unlike other kinds of merchandise, amounts of liquior beyond one liter are subject to duty at a flat rate of 3%, even if you have not exceeded, or even met, your personal exemption. For example, if your exemption is $800 and you bring back three liters of wine and nothing else, two of those liters will be dutiable. Federal law prohibits shipping alcoholic beverages by mail within the United States.

It appears that you may also have to pay a federal tax on any liquior in excess of one liter. The site is not specific about this. You might want to contact US Customs.

State laws may limit the amount of alcohol you can bring in without a license. If you arrive in a state that has limitations on the amount of alcohol you may bring in without a license, that state law will be enforced by Customs, even though it may be more restrictive then Federal regulations.

<<Federal law prohibits shipping alcoholic beverages by mail within the United States.>>

but not by an approved shipper. UPS ships alcoholic beverages every day to/from states that allow it, and collect no taxes from the shipping state, nor the destination state. samswine.com does a booming "mail order" business, and I am one of their satisfied customers.

<<state law will be enforced by Customs>>

The practical experience of hundreds of visitors to this site underscore one simple fact: this simply does not happen, even when you tell them explicitly how much wine is in your luggage.