What to do with wine?
 

...besides drink it, of course.

I am going to Oregon wine country next month. Usually I like to bring 4-6 bottles home, divided between carry-on and checked baggage. With the new "no-liquid" ban for carry-ons, I'm wondering if I should pack an extra bag to check, or get the wine shipped home. Anyone have a good way to handle this? Wondering if my final hotel (Marriott Portand Downtown) be able to ship it for me, or if it would cost too much...

Take Amtrak back?

Is SF in your name San Francisco?

Check if wine can be shipped to your state. If not, ship it yourself as "oil" or "vinegar".

http://www.usatoday.com/travel/fligh...carry-on_x.htm

This article from USAToday discusses the options and challenges. Your state may or may not allow the wine to be shipped to your home. Interesting reading. No really good "right" answer.

Well, I'm in Texas, which seems to be on the list of states that Oregon can ship to. I'm thinking of bringing some bubble-wrap and packing one roller-board inside another. Dirty clothes usually work to protect wine as well. It will be interesting to see if the wineries have adjusted and have shipping specials, etc.

OK, from a Wine-O, here's what you do -- Get one of those styrofoam filled wine boxes (12 pack) -- every wine town has them -- and put your wine in it, even if you only have 4 to 8 bottles, and put the boxes on the airplane as part of your checked baggage. It's free except for the $6-7 for the wine box.

I brought 2 cases back from Sonoma last March -- it's a no-brainer. SFO is used to it. You should have no problems from Portland. ((b))

If you have any, it's way better to establish relationships with your local wine merchants - way less expensive and strenuous in the long run.
M

Do as Budman suggested. Ask the winery for a styrofoamed box that they use to ship wines (I get these for free from the wineries when I need to fly back to New York from CA). Even before the no-liquid ban, I've never carried wine on board as it is too heavy and too bulky to fit into my laptop bag. In general, a 12-bottle case, Bordeaux/Cabernet, weighs about 45 lbs.

Actually, for 4-6 bottles, just do the dirty clothes wrap.

BTW, it's not in your or the shipper's best interest to lie and declare your shipment as "oil".

My husband just brought 12 bottles back from Sonoma. One of the wineries gave him a box that was shipped to them (it had individual holes for each bottles) and then we wrapped each bottle in bubble wrap. We were very impressed that none of them broke!
Mikemo- in Pa, the liquour stores are all owned by the state. You can't befriend anybody, which helps you to become very creative!

Just to correct my typo, a 12-bottle case is about 25 lbs.

The boxes have styrofoam cylinders where the top is shaped to hold the neck of the bottle. No need for bubble wrap. The boxes are made for 12 bottles, but putting 6-8 inside would be no problem. Despite the airline cargo handlers, mine arrived in great shape. ((b))

I live right on the edge of our wine area here in Oregon. I am literally less than 5 minutes from the first winery. If you decide to ship it yourself, just let me know and I can give you the names of several places to ship it from while you are still in the wine area.

Budman, You were correct the first time. A case of wines weighs 35 - 45 pounds. Sometimes even more if the bottles are like those heavy Pinot bottles.

You must be confusing me with bill_boy, but I agree -- I've lugged enough of them. ((b))

Sorry Budman, lol! Too early in the morning for me ( or maybe too much wine last night, lol). I confused you with bill_boy. My bad.

Get a box from your wine shop that has the styro inserts. I am sure the wineeries will have these also. Check it through with your luggage.

I tend to use the dirty clothes method. I've brought wine back in my checked luggage from New Zealand, South Africa and Austria and have never had a problem.

The key seems to be packing the bag tightly so that there is little chance of movement and packing it in such a way so that the bottles cannot bang against each other.

My issue with shipping is that you lose any change of climate control and could have it site for a while in a 110 degree warehouse enroute.

Many wineries will also sell you a case or 1/2 case sized styrofoam wine shipping container (like used by wine.com). You can then pack the wine in this (it comes with a cardboard box) and send this through as checked luggage.

Thanks winos! And thanks mms. If I need any assistance for shipping from the area, I'll holler.

There is a downtown FedEx office in Portland that I have used to ship items to me before - I use my existing FedEx account number and ship it via ground or 2-day. It makes life much easier than carting around a case all the way to the airport. The office is just a couple of blocks from the Marriott.

The cost to ship a case by ground isn't very high - the only risk is heat exposure. During the last month and even next month the wine could be exposed to high heat between Oregon and Texas...

I put the bottles into a plastic grocery sack then roll them up into my dirty clothes in the suitcase. Depending on 1 or 2 people and size of suitcases you can easily do 4-6 bottles this way.