Just the essentials.
Let’s say you and a group of your pals plan a super fun weekend of wine tasting in Walla Walla only to find that tasting turned to buying, and now each of you has anywhere from a half to 2 full cases of wine to somehow get home. Whether you flew or drove, these are 6 tips to get your precious bounty home safely.
1. If you are flying out of the Walla Walla or Pasco airports, Alaska Airlines will allow you to check one full case of wine (properly packaged for shipping) for free. You can find packing stuff at almost all of the wineries, and most will only charge you a small fee for the materials.
2. If you have somehow walked away with only a few bottles you can put them in your luggage (keeping in mind that each bottle weighs a little over 3 pounds). I have found that the best way is to pack your suitcase half full, wrap the wine in something soft – this is the time for the t-shirt, not your silk blouse – and then put the whole bundle into a plastic bag or two. This product is pretty cool, but trashbags and tshirts work just as well. Pack more clothes on top of the wine so that there is a nice cushion on all sides. You can only take 5L of wine in your checked baggage (1/2 case).
3. If you are traveling abroad, most of the time you can only take 2 750mL bottles into a county, including Canada. If you are flying, you will have to check your bag.
4. Consider yourself fairly warned that most wine openers are definitely NOT allowed in your carry-on baggage. If you try to hide them, they are considered a concealed weapon (just ask Justin about that one).
5. Ship it from the winery! Yes, you will end up paying a bit more for each bottle, but you don’t have to worry about getting it home or keeping it at the proper temperature in your car or on the tarmac. If you are buying from multiple wineries, you can wait until the end of your trip and ship from UPS to yourself (just remember to pick up one of those handy shipping cases from a winery).
6. If you are doing a significant move and/or know you have a lot of stuff stacked around your bottles, wrap each bottle in a few sheets of tissue or packing paper and re-pack into the wine box (with cardboard dividers). You’ll thank me later if you’re the person driving and there are no wine bottles rattling around the entire time.
If you don’t want to deal with any of this, be sure to take notes of the wines you are interested in purchasing and contact your local wine specialty shop when you arrive back home. Most will work with their distributor or the wineries directly to get your desired wines to you!