21st birthday present

Wineries ship via UPS all the time, but they have to mark the package as requiring an adult signature on receipt. Personally, I think that's silly (not to mention a PIA for me because I'm almost never home when the UPS guy comes by). How many underage drinkers could there be who would order wine? Most of them can't even afford _beer_!

Put it into one of those styrofoam shippers and mark the contents as fruit juice or vinegar. I send and receive such small packages now and then and have never had a problem - even with international shipments.

Tom S

Is this a wine from your own cellar? If so, you may just need to go to your favorite local wine merchant and ask them what to do. Often you need to go to only a specific few places, not just any UPS store. Ideally you have a place that knows you, and will therefore be happy to just ship it for you. :-)

If you don't have it yet, you could order it from a shop in California to simplify shipping directly to her.

It's from my cellar.

Getting the advice and help of a local store where I've done a lot of business makes eminently good sense.

Many wine stores in the US do not ship directly to other states. However they may pass title to the wine to you in their state and act as an agent to hire a shipper for you to ship the wine to yourself or someome else under your own name. They are most likely to be very helpful for good customers or expensive orders. Some will not do this for states where it is a felony to ship in wine without approval. The bottom line is that there are seldom any problems. However, if the wine is lost or damaged, you likely will not be able to collect, since the shipping company will say you shipped something into the state that their policy does not allow. Some of the companies that put out big catalogs probably sell much more wine out of state than in state.