If you're planning to travel in a wine producing region somewhere in the world this summer, you will probably want to return with a few bottles to enjoy back home. No question, the fun part is tasting and selecting the wine to bring back, but the hard part is getting it back legally, in one piece and in good condition. Keeping Your Bottles Intact
The obvious challenge is keeping the bottles intact during your journey. If your complete journey is by car, there isn't such a problem here, though do remember when you pack the car with your cases of wine to ensure that the weight is evenly distributed and that none of the cases are going to shift and injure one of your passengers if you have to brake suddenly. If you are traveling by plane, the difficulties are much greater. With heightened airport security, you may no longer carry wine in your hand luggage, any wine you travel with must be checked in to the hold. So, here are a few things to bear in mind.
1) Wine bottles are heavy, averaging about 3 pounds or 1.4 kilograms so just two or three bottles can take up a significant amount of your weight limit.
2) Wine bottles break really easily and make a terrible mess when they do. Not only will the wine ruin your own clothes and your bag, potentially, it may damage other passengers bags, which is why some airlines (if they know you are carrying wine) refuse to carry it unless it is packed in approved liquid-proof protective bags. Some are coming onto the market now, but they are hard to find. Alternatives include:
a) Approved postal packs with polystyrene inners can be purchased at some post offices and stationers.
b) Bottlewise produces padded canvas bags with velcro for one or two bottles and these seem an excellent solution and are available by mail order.
c) Neoprene bags for one or two bottles are quite widely available at wineries and wine accessory shops. Designed to keep wine cool for a picnic for example, they do provide quite good protection, but watch out that you protect the neck of the bottle which has no protection.
d) Take plenty of bubble wrap with you and wrap in several layers, sealing with tape.
e) The old method of wrapping wine bottles carefully in clothes is fine, as long as you place the bottles with layers of clothes above, below and to the sides.
The legal aspect
If you are traveling back from another country, then you must check how much wine you are allowed to bring back free of paying taxes. This varies greatly. Within the European Union you may take as much wine as you like, providing it is for personal consumption. (If you are traveling by car across borders, especially in the UK, be prepared to be questioned if the quantity is above about 10 dozen bottles - whatever you say, you are not allowed to bring back wine on behalf of other people, but as a gift for your daughter's wedding if it's written in your diary is just fine). If you are traveling in-between Europe and the USA generally the limit is only about 3 bottles of wine - check first.
Temperature
It is a pity to ruin any wine you buy with high temperatures. Remember that temperature in a closed car without the air conditioning on can increase dramatically even if you leave your car in the shade. Protect your wine otherwise the quality will be irreversibly damaged. See also my article Temperature Hazards in Shipping Wine .
Enjoy your wine travels this summer, but think carefully before spending much on buying wine, how you will transport it back home.
