DianeP

I know we can bring wine back to the US with us from Italy but my question is -- Can we take wine from the US to Italy?
Thanks

Kate

of course you can, as long as you follow Italy's customs guide on how much you can import, but but but WHY??!!

StCirq

Yes. You can also bring coals to Newcastle.

Dick

What would be the purpose????

jsmith

A recent "Tasting" column in the Wall Street Journal had this to say about a Westport Rivers sparkling wine from Massachusetts:

"There was immediate good news. Mr. Flynn poured a sparkler that everyone at the table loved. Because we hadn't formally begun the tasting, in fact, a couple of people at the table thought we were treating them to real Champagne before the tasting. The wine had pinpoint bubbles, a nose filled with fruit and minerals, and a long, lovely finish."

Why shouldn't DianeP or anyone else be proud to take this wine to Italy? There are many other US wines of comparable quality. I think the comments of the previous posters smack of elitism.

mamc

Indeed there are many great wines in the US. But the question is, why would you want to take them to Italy? Wine is heavy and awkward to carry. Wine in Italy is good. Champagne comes from France. So, forget about elitism, why go to all the bother when there is perfectly good wine already in Italy?

Michael

It depends on the purpose. I could imagine bringing a Boony Doon Cardinal Zin with its acompanying T-Shirt to friends as a humorous gift of a good wine. But not the similarly punned Grenache Village because the wine actually comes from France, at which point it would be bringing Newcastel's coals back to Newcastle.

Dick

It isn't elitism.

PArt of the joy of travelling is enjoying wines that are not available locally.

When I travel to Italy, I want to taste wines that that typify the region that I am visiting.

For example....when I visit Napa/Sonoma, I look for special wines that I can't buy in my area.

flanneruk

You can import as much as you like. Above the duty-free limit you're supposed to pay import duty and VAT, enter through the Red channel, and declare it all to the Dogana.

Actually, the Italians are likely to be so gobsmacked if you do declare six litres or whatever of non-European wine, they'll either wave you through or assume you're really smuggling serious stuff and haul you into the rubber glove section for deeper investigation

The duty-free limits are standard throughout the EU and are 2 litres of still and 2 of sparkling (by EU law, stuff grown outside France can't be called champagne).

But if I remember rightly, import duty is 3.2 Eurocents per litre, and Italian VAT is derisory on essential products (a category which certainly used to include wine when I lived there)

Ignore the people who wonder why you're bringing it. Some American wine can be quite pleasant.

jsmith

I expect DianeP is taking the wine as a gift.

I wouldn't expect Westport Rivers Cuvee Brut to be widely available in Italy so it would be an excellent gift. It is not coal to Newcastle. Coal is essentially fungible, wine is not.

Budman

I plan to bring 4-5 bottles of wine, mostly as gifts for the hosts where I am staying. I make my own wine from California grapes, and in 2002 I made what I consider an outstanding Super Tuscan that I plan to share with my landlord in Montepulciano. It should make for a nice comparison.

A friend of mine was stationed in Toulon, France, with the Navy's personnel exchange program. He was always asked by his French counterparts to bring back some California wines when he went to the Embassy in Paris.

SuzieC

SuzieC

oops

I was just reading the post and replies... I swear it... (seriously glad that some of the posters decided that it would be "oh... OK" to bring US wine to Italy!) Which, I think would be a GREAT gift...sort of the cultural exchange program thingy

Gavin

Budman you might have trouble at airport security. A friend of mine recently had a bottle of homemade wine confiscated by airport security. New rules in Canada prohibit homemade wine as carry on. I don't know about check luggage and I don't know about other countries but I would check before flying.

Budman

Gavin, thanks for the heads up. I've never had a problem in the past and have never been questioned. The closest thing that has occurred going thru security was the confiscation of my favorite corkscrew. I mistakenly left it in my carry-on.

My wine is professionally packaged so unless someone read the fine print on the labels, they would never know it was homemade.

TopMan

Budman: Please send a sample of your wine to Kate, StCirq, Dick, and mamc..perhaps once they've tasted it they'll finally "get it."

jsmith

Just returned from 3 days at the house in Newport and while there bought a 2003 Gewurtztraminer at Sakkonet Vineyards in Little Compton, RI. I'd be proud to take that to Italy.

Now I need to decide what to drink it with. Two suggestions from one of our cookbooks are a baked ham with spicy apricot-orange glaze and curried apple couscous abd the other is arugula, smoked trout, roasted beets and caramelized cashews with ginger-chile dressing.

sharoo

Why would you want to bring wine to Italy? They have great wines at great prices.You can buy bottles of the best wines at the wine shops for half of what you would pay in the US for Italian wines.
Maybe bring Vodka!

ira

Hi JS,

May I suggest a filet of sole ala Meunier or Francaise with sauteed cippolini onions and saffron risotto?

I wouldn't challenge the wine with strong flavors, but let its citrus tones complement the fish.

jsmith

sharoo, I would take a bottle or two of US wine to Italy, France, Germany etc as a gift to a host.