Shipping wines from US to EU

You likely will not be able to use the USPS official US mail. They will not allow shipment of liquids of any kind, over a very small bottle size, within the US. Since the shipment would be partly within the US, their rules likely will apply to foreign shipments as well. Several air express services will deliver to and from Europe in 2 days. However the price is extremely high if you ship anything heavy or large. It costs US$ 40 to 60 just to ship a small box with some candy and a torte from Austria to the US by 2'nd day air express on UPS or Federal Express.

For anything as heavy as wine, you may have to use a slow boat and hopefully ship when temperatures are lower. The air companies perhaps have considerably lower rates for shipments that take several days, but for heavy wine bottles this still likely is quite expensive.

Reply to snipped-for-privacy@cwdjr.net .

Hi, Mike -

Things have changed a lot over the past couple of years. In early 2002 I shipped a half case of wine to Ian's by air carrier for ~$70. It was a lot easier than carrying it with me on the plane, and not horribly expensive.

Nowadays, however, it has become not only prohibitively expensive to ship wine; it is nearly *impossible*.

Just carry it with you. Hire bearers and pay the extra luggage fee if there is one. Just don't waste your efforts on any plonk!

There are no export tariffs that I know of. Import is on your side, so that's up to you to check out. :^)

Au contraire. Read above.

If you simply can't stand to pay the excess baggage fee, I'll be glad to _store_ them for you. Know'msayin'? ;^D

Tom S

P.S. - An alternative idea just occurred to me: Arrange things so that the _only_ luggage you have with you is the wine! Leave all the clothes and toiletries in your San Diego office. Send the clothes out for cleaning and get one of your minions to pick them up and leave them in your office. Then you won't have to pack for your _next_ trip. You'll then have the space to bring a couple of cases of European wine _this_ way.

Think bicoastal. Well... sort of.

Bring it as luggage. You are allowed "2*pc" for transatlantic flights, which start and end with the single ticket. i.e. CA-NYC-CDG-LYS is all at "2*pc" of luggage. A piece is l+w+h under

62", and weighs less than 32kg(70lbs).

A foam shipping wine case fits nicely into one of those maxi rollons available at Marshalls, or some other discounter, and takes up about

75% of the space. The loaded rollon and wine weighs about 55 lbs. You could take two rollons and still have a lot of room left for clothing.

or, take A big hardside Sampsonite, line it with bubble wrap or towels, and put paper mache burgundy separaters on each side. Holds

18 bottles, and comes in at very close to, but under 70 lbs. Strap or tape it up, as there is a finite chance that the handle will come off. TSI or whatever may want to look at it, so I prefer the roll on technique now. I used the Samponsite bag for years from Italy to US. Carried 18 in the suitcase, and 6 in a carryon many times.

If you have "excess" luggage, do not load over 70lbs. The charge for over 70 lbs is something like $5-10 per pound over! Ship a 3rd 70 lb bag instead. The charge for that should be in the neighborhood of $100. If you do plan to do that, keep calling the airline until you get a firm answer for the cost of the 3rd bag. I have carried many excess luggage containers Italy-US, but have never gone US-Europe with excess luggage. (it is cheaper for me to buy a ticket to Europe, pick up merchandise, get two pieces for free, and pay the $100 for the rest, than to air ship the lot).

Far and away the cheapest way to ship US to Europe (Italy excluded) is by USPS. Fed EX, DHL, and UPS are fantastically expensive. USPS has a 3 day service arrangement with almost every country in the world, Italy excluded.

Thanks all for the great advice.

Mike Tommasi, Six Fours, France email link

I HIGHLY recommend carrying it on the plane with you. That's what we now do, after trying a few other methods. when we go back and forth. Even when we are bringing back as much as 5 cases each!

You should call the airline ahead of time to let them know you will have some excess, heavy baggage. We forgot to do that once, and they almost didn't let us bring it on (even with excess baggage charges!)

e.

Taking it on the plane with you seems to be the best option, from what has been posted. A second coice would be to buy your wine at a store that will ship outside of the country. If you do ship yourself, I suggest using a service that prepares packages for shipment. For example, nearly any city has services that will prepare and make shipments for you via UPS, Federal Express etc. There many special forms that are required for international shipments.

I assume you will be shipping to France. France has a huge number of regulations concerning items entering the country. The USPS site at

has sections concernng the regulations of various countries, including France.

My shipments by air express from Europe usually clear customs here without delay and without being opened, because companies such as Demel or shipping services hired by companies do all of the paper work properly. Even any customs duties can be prepaid in many cases.

Reply to snipped-for-privacy@cwdjr.net .

Mike, Just to elaborate a bit on what you've already been told: commercial parcel services are very unwilling to ship wine internationally for individuals. However, they do permit retailers to ship internationally, so if you're buying from a retailer you can have them ship it directly. It is quite expensive, though, since they also must pay customs on it, so you're far better off taking the excess baggage on the plane if you can.

Au contraire, it's the best option if it can be mananged. As I've mentioned before here, I've never been charged duty on wine brought back into this country, though of course I have no idea if the douane de France behaves similarly. Two cases is doable IMO, especially following gerald's plan. On thing I found when we shipped our wine back from CA is that wineries in CA use smaller 12-bottle shippers (ca. 27 x 38 x 52 cm) than you can find for sale in most retailers. If you need a few of them, let me know and I'll get in touch with some friends in CA. (Tom S or Emily [winemonger] might have more immediate supplies handy)

Mark Lipton

"Mike Tommasi" asked of the group.....

Mike, I have no experience US-Europe, but have often taken up to five cases of wine as checking in luggage, half way round the world.

I have never heard of an "export tax" - and my experience (albeit into the UK via Heathrow) - two cases of wine is a such a piddling amount that, unless you come across a pedantic, brain dead customs officer, with no sense of humour whatsoever, then any import duties assessed should be minimal at least, and possibility nil - notwithstanding any import limits on returning nationals.

Mark Lipton has sent me two bottles from the US to NZ via FedEx - very VERY fast service - but that was in a small styrofoam package - and I would not trust that method to sending yourself two cases.

Check your two cases in; pay the excess baggage fee (if applicable) and act suitably embarrassed and joke with the French customs officer that "this is just cheap American rubbish that a friend insist that you accept as a gift" - I am sure that any self respecting Frenchman will understand your dilemma.

I absolutely have some shippers you can use. I'm down in LA, but happy to give them to you.

-emily

Again thanks everyone for the advice.

I am not at all worried about French customs, they don't care. Once I arrived in Marseille with some Porto I bought in .. Porto (back then we still had closed borders), and the customs guys started giving me a hard time. Tehy had me going for a while, until they gave it away, one of them said "I am afraid we will havbe to taste it and decide whether to tax it or not..." ;-)

OK, I will carry it with me then, it is unanimous...

Andrew, dont worry, nobody will give you a hard time, the customs guys probably dont even know NZ makes wine...

Mike Tommasi, Six Fours, France email link

[] ] ] Far and away the cheapest way to ship US to Europe (Italy excluded) is ] by USPS. Fed EX, DHL, and UPS are fantastically expensive. USPS has ] a 3 day service arrangement with almost every country in the world, ] Italy excluded. ] ]

Hi,

Just a note to mention that for some time the USPS outsourced european delivery to some german company -- can't remember the name. In any case it was pretty horrible for a good long time, to the point that the IHT even had a feature story about it. Seems to be mostly cleared up now, but "cheapest" isn't always "best". I have good luck USFrance with UPS.

I agree the best way is to hand carry. But if that's too onerous, you can avoid any French import tax by clearly marking the customs declaration as "gift." Of course it's even true! :)

-E

] ] ] On Sun, 10 Jul 2005 08:58:05 +0200, Mike Tommasi ] wrote: ] ] >Hi ] >

] >anyone have experience with this? Does Fed Ex work, or the US mail? Do ] >we get slapped with enormous duties on arrival, or some exotic tax on ] >departure? ] >

] >I wil be in CA in september and I need to ship about 18 zins and 6 ] >mourvedres back to France. I guess carrying these as baggage on the ] >plane will set me back a few $$$ so not a good idea. ] >

] >

] >

] >Mike Tommasi, Six Fours, France ] >email link

]