Bringing wine home from S.A.

[makai 7]

We will be touring several vineyards in Chile before we fly home next March, and would like to know if anyone has been able to have wine shipped home - successfully- from Chile.

 

We would need to have it shipped to Massachusetts.

 

It just seems like such a shame to visit wineries and not be able to buy anything to take home. We are reluctant to pack wine in our luggage- not sure if it would still be there when we picked it up at baggage claim!

 

Thanks

Beth

[greatam]

We will be touring several vineyards in Chile before we fly home next March, and would like to know if anyone has been able to have wine shipped home - successfully- from Chile.

 

We would need to have it shipped to Massachusetts.

 

It just seems like such a shame to visit wineries and not be able to buy anything to take home. We are reluctant to pack wine in our luggage- not sure if it would still be there when we picked it up at baggage claim!

 

Thanks

Beth

 

The wine is much more likely to be broken in your luggage than stolen.

 

You can do one of five things:

 

1. Get a "wine shipper" box at one of the vineyards, buy your wine and check the box as checked luggage. I think this is the riskiest way for wine to be stolen from an aircraft.

 

2) Buy an extra suitcase, take out your best clothes and place them in the new or old suitcase-just get them away from the wine. Take some bubble wrap, wrap up your wine with bubble wrap and dirty clothes, place it securely in the middle of your suitcase, place ZIP ties around all zippers and if necessary, pay the extra charge for an additional suitcase. This is the best way, IMHO.

 

3) Pay the winery to ship your wine home. Most have FedEx/UPS service from Chile. NOT CHEAP and there have been some customs hassles. I do global logistics shipping for a living. This method does work, but it is costly and sometimes wine is confiscated at customs. You may or may not get it back

 

4) IF you have a rental car from Valparaiso to Santiago, you can easily get to the post office in Santiago (if you are there during the week). Address the wine to yourself, insure heavily, pack well. Not nearly as many customs problems shipping stuff to yourself as there are shipping from a winery to a consumer. Mark the customs declaration truthfully. I ship a lot of personal stuff (including wine and Pisco Sour) from South America every year. It takes about 30 days to get it to the US, but I have never had the Post Office fail.

 

5) Buy it in NYC. PJ Wine in NYC has a large selection of Chilean wines. We ship a lot of different wines to them. Some of their NYC prices are MUCH cheaper than what you can buy a bottle or two for in Chile. Of course, they are buying a least a couple pallets worth. PJ ships wine in small quantities all over the country. http://www.pjwine.com/

[mchell810]

 

2) Buy an extra suitcase, take out your best clothes and place them in the new or old suitcase-just get them away from the wine. Take some bubble wrap, wrap up your wine with bubble wrap and dirty clothes, place it securely in the middle of your suitcase, place ZIP ties around all zippers and if necessary, pay the extra charge for an additional suitcase. This is the best way, IMHO.

 

You can buy locks for your suitcases. They must have the TSA approval (so TSA can open the cases --- but this way others cannot get into your bags.) If you google TSA lock you will find images with the symbol. I bought my locks at Target, but you can get them on the web as well.

[greatam]

You can buy locks for your suitcases. They must have the TSA approval (so TSA can open the cases --- but this way others cannot get into your bags.) If you google TSA lock you will find images with the symbol. I bought my locks at Target, but you can get them on the web as well.

 

The OP is bringing wine HOME (USA) FROM South America. TSA would have NO need to check suitcases until you got into the USA and then it would not be likely, as South America does a pretty thorough job-they put stickers on your suitcases to indicate they have been checked. Customs, yes-they may ASK you to open them, but you are right there.

 

I fly over 100,000 miles a year. TSA locks get cut off frequently. Bought TSA locks a few years ago. All were cut off within 3 months. Waste of money, IMHO. Zip ties work just as well and you can tell if your suitcases have been broken into BEFORE you ever pick up the suitcase. You don't have to flip the suitcase over to see if the lock has been opened. I use very brightly colored ties-florescent orange or pink usually.

 

IF TSA gets into the bags, they usually leave a note AND replace the zip tie with a gray or creme colored one. VERY easy to spot-much easier than trying to spot the diamond or dot on the lock.

[pacmom]

We have brought wine home from every cruise--river and ocean. Never had a bottle stolen or broken. Our luggage is soft sided. DH packs, wrapping the bottles in dirty laundry. If you buy any duty free, it will need to be put in your checked luggage right after you go thru customs in the US. On one trip we brought back 9 or 10 bottles--declared them all and because we were so under $ limit, didn't have to pay any duty. You could probably buy the wine in the US cheaper than having it shipped. Good luck. Pat

[cdkempton]

If you have a Costco near you, you might want to check out their Chilean wines. On the West coast they have quite a nice assortment. Write down the names of what they have and enjoy your wine tasting in Chile and perhaps your favorites will already by available in the States. Also, there are a lot of online distributors where you can find wines from all over the world and have it shipped. This would be a lot simpler than trying to haul it home yourself and probably a lot cheaper.

Good luck, Enjoy and Bon Voyage!!!!

Colette

[robinpow]

I've brought home wine from almost every wine region in the world, and so far only 1 broken bottle.

 

First buy a couple of those nice new hard side suitcases. While they are a bit heavier than the soft side, they are much lighter than the hard side bags of 10 years ago. Also the new suitcases have built in TSA locks.

 

Now buy a roll of the small bubble, bubble wrap. The larger bubbles don't appear to work as well. Also pick up a cheap roll of tape.

 

Pack as light as passable and read and note the weight of your bags when you check them in at the airport. This will let you know just how much more weight you can add, with out going over weight on the return trip.

 

Now for the packing:

 

1. Wrap each bottle at least 3 layers of bubble wrap. Tape shut the side edge, along with the bottom and top.

 

2. Lay a nice layer of clothing on the bottom of you suit case. This is where you use your jeans.

 

3. Add a second layer of fluffy clothing like shirts.

 

4. Roll each bottle, in soft clothing like t-shirts. Place side by side across the layer of jeans. Tops & bottoms of bottles should be horizontal to the top and bottom of the bag.

 

5. Roll clothing, and pack around edges. Should be very snug, allowing NO movement.

 

6. If you have other light weight breakables, this is the time to add them. (on top of the bottles).

 

7. Top off with the rest of your clothing. Fill bag until very snug. Nothing should be able to move.

 

8. If you don't have enough clothing, or the clothing is going to put that bag over weight, fill void with any bubble wrap you have left over and/or crumple up all of those plastic bags stuff came in, into one bag.

 

9. Lock your bag!!!! Hard side with TSA locks, keeps the ramp rats out. Now you only risk is TSA, and the biggest risk there is an inspection where they don't put things back in place. (How my bottle got broken.)

 

Few extra tips to improve your odds:

 

Watch your weight. Even if you are flying business with a 70 lb limit or willing to pay the $25 charge. Heavy weight bags get treated much rougher by the ramp rats. Try to keep the bag at 50 lb or less.

 

Don't pack food products or crystal with your wine. These items appear to increase the odds of the bag being inspected. Crystal gives an odd image on the x-ray machine. Every time I've packed or hand carried crystal it's caused an inspection.

 

I've not seen any documentation for my next tip, but it has appeared to work for me. Not to mention you should do it anyway with all of your luggage.

 

Take a large piece of paper, print your name, address, home phone and flight info on it. Place it in the bag last so that it is on top of everything, and the first thing seen when the bag is opened. First if you bag is lost and losses it tags (happened to me once), it will help the bag find it's way home.

 

This is the wrong time of year for this tip, but in the spring if you are on a reposition cruise. Don't worry too much about he weight. Plan ahead, spend 1 night post cruise at a hotel. Box and mail your surplus to yourself. Last spring I mailed 40 lbs of stuff for less than $25. Cheaper than the airlines, and the mail man brings it to your door.