As a wine lover, travelling to a wine destination is probably something you do often. Even if wine is not the main, or only, reason your travels bring you to a destination, often a wine tour is a pleasant way to see parts of a country or region where the wine is inherent to the culture, identity and economy.

Personally there is no better way to remember such travels than by opening up bottles of wine from these trips long after I’m home, but getting wines from their origin to your door can sometimes be a hassle. If it is not a hassle, then it’s guaranteed to be costly.

I have shipped from foreign countries, wrapped wine in clothing, wrapped wine in Wineskins, and finally purchased a dedicated wine suitcase. I’ve discovered a few things along the way and thought I’d share what I’ve learned in case it helps someone else in transporting wine to and fro.

The easiest solution is to have wine shipped direct from the winery to your home. But, shipping direct is not a given. If you are visiting smaller producers or smaller regions in foreign countries, shipping might not actually be an option. You will also pay dearly for this convenience, as we all know wine shipping is expensive. Not to mention, if shipping from a foreign county, those wines have to go through customs and I always envision my wine sitting on a dock, in some port, in the blazing heat.

So what to do if you want to bring some wine back with you? First things first – how to pack those wine bottles so they can be checked luggage.

The first few times I brought wine back from travels, it was carefully and lovingly wrapped in my dirty clothes and strategically placed in my suitcase. It does not take a genius to know that this is a risky practice – not only because your wine might break, that is sad enough, but it could really ruin clothes and other items in our suitcase. Liquid leaking out of your suitcase at baggage claim is also a situation to avoid in my opinion.

Eventually, I discovered Wineskins. These are bubble wrap-like wine shaped bags that completely seal for exactly the purpose of putting wine in your regular suitcase. There are a couple of brands but I have always used Wineskins simply because they are what is readily available at my local wine retailer and to date, they have never failed me.

These are an excellent option when not wanting to bring large quantities home with you. The leakproof seal ensures that even if you have the unthinkable happens, at least the contents of your suitcase will not be ruined. I have successfully brought 5 bottles home many times and if you have two suitcases you could darn near get a case of wine home this way. You do need to mindful of weight, which can vary greatly when traveling regional carriers in foreign countries, but I’ll get to that later.

The next step in wine transport is dedicated wine luggage. There are two options that I’m aware of, made specifically for transporting wine in your checked luggage.

The Wine Check, about the size of a case of wine, but has the necessary internal packing to absorb the abuse of being shipped in the cargo hold of a plane. A nice material covering over the cardboard and wheels makes this a great choice. This comes in at about $115.00 so if you use it twice, you’ve probably covered your cost.

The VinGuardeValise is another dedicated wine suitcase. They come in various sizes and a few colors. I had looked at these in the past and thought wow, I’d love to have one, but the price on this suitcase is steep – $379.95. I found the 12 bottle suitcase on sale during Covid for $99.00 and purchased it immediately.

I have since taken this suitcase on two trips – one domestically and one internationally. It is important to note that I could not take it on a river cruise trip because it exceeds size limits for the boat. It is a very large suitcase. It’s price, size and weight – 14 lbs empty – are potential drawbacks to this luggage. The upside is that I would be absolutely stunned if a bottle of wine ever broke in this suitcase. Another plus is that you can purchase additional foam inserts so that you can take magnums, sparkling bottles, or even your favorite wine glasses with you. You can also remove the foam inserts on one side and use it for clothes, so it is very flexible in use.

Now you’ve got a plan for traveling with your wine, but what about size and weight restrictions? Wine is heavy! Airlines are going to have different rules so you need to know your airline(s) specifically. If you are taking a boat or train in your travels you will also want to check those guidelines as well. The key is to know before you go.

The average bottle of wine weighs between 1.5 and 2 lbs. Obviously, this will vary as some wine producers use incredibly heavy glass bottles, and there many different shapes of bottles which do affect the weight. My VinGardeValise says that with most standard wine bottles, I will come in under 50 lbs fully loaded. This calculates correctly – 12 two pound bottles in a suitcase that weighs 14 lbs empty = 48 lbs.

If you have status with a particular airline, all of these guidelines might be considerably more generous. Alaska Airlines allows a free case of wine to be checked when travelling to and from wine destinations on the West Coast. This is not very helpful to me, but if you live on the West Coast and travel between Washington, Oregon, California and Idaho, it’s definitely a nice perk that supports those wine industries.

What if you are travelling on regional flights within a foreign country? I can tell you from recent experience this creates another set of rules that are going to put a little crimp in your wine travel mojo.

This past June, my husband and I travelled to Chile and Argentina. The baggage restrictions for regional flights in South America were far tighter than the restrictions I had between the US and Chile and Argentina and the US. My bags could not weigh more than 35 lbs! Yikes! Our bags stay under 50 because we do not want to lug anything heavier around, but I could’ve gotten on my flight in Atlanta with 70 lb bags if I had wanted to. This would’ve been a serious issue on Aerolineas Argentias because not only do you pay for anything over 35 lbs, if your bag exceeds 50 lbs it goes on an entirely separate cargo flight!

We did get dinged for overweight baggage coming from Mendoza to Buenos Aires but it only cost about $10. The real issue was having to walk down the airport to an “office” to pay the lady, who wasn’t there yet, and then waiting for the credit card thing to work, etc. This added about 30 minutes of time, so plan for that if you think your bags will be overweight.

My overweight bag was my VinGardeValise, which for this trip, we did take the foam inserts out of one half for. So I only had 6 bottles of wine in that suitcase but also had my husband’s steel toe shoes and clothing he needed for the business portion of this trip. I added 2 more bottles to my other suitcase in Wineskins. All in all, we brought home 8 bottles of wine from Chile and Argentina for a total cost of $10.00.

Next, you will also want to check the size restrictions. The VinGardeValise, as noted above, was too large for a river boat. My anxiety about arriving with a suitcase that is forbidden is real – I mean what would happen? I don’t know and I don’t intend to find out. I use an online metric conversion calculator to make sure there are no errors. Despite very strict weight restrictions, the size of this suitcase was allowed on our regional flights within South America.

Here is another potential issue on this particular trip – can you take Chilean wine into Argentina, and if so how much? If you are travelling between two different countries this is something you will want to know in advance. No one could answer this question, not even our wine tour guide. The internet was able to tell me that there was 2L limit on wine being brought into Argentina. I declared this wine both in Santiago and in Buenos Aires and I’m happy to say that our 3 bottles of Chilean wine caused us no issues upon arrival in Argentina, despite being slightly over the 2L limit.

Now, you’ve got your luggage and your wine safely checked on the plane to come home. What about Customs in the U.S.?

There are technically no restrictions on how much wine you can bring into the United States for personal use, but that does not mean it is duty free. The duty free allowance on wine (<24% ABV) is a measly 1L. The general duty exemption for U.S. citizens does not apply to alcohol. So, technically, you are required to pay the 3% duty tax on any wine over 1L that you bring into the United States when returning from foreign travel. I have brought wine back many times, fully declared and have never been asked to pay taxes because I have more than 1L. I am no expert here, but I’ve never heard of anyone being asked to pay additional duty on wine brought back to the United States. Worst case scenario is you declare $500 worth of wine and you are asked to pay $15 in duty – not a bad deal.

Want to skip all the stress and travel easily with your wine suitcase with no worries about customs and weight limits or regional carriers? Domestic travel is the way to really enjoy your wine luggage with no worries other than whether your bottles will arrive safely.

We took the wine suitcase to Sonoma last October and am happy to report filling it up with 12 bottles, one of which was olive oil, was no trouble whatsoever. It actually came in under 50 lbs and kept all of our bottles safe and sound.

Another reason to have a wine suitcase is if you are travelling to a destination and you just want to have the wines you want! Load up your wine suitcase, or a few Wineskins and take your favorite wines with you to wherever your are headed. Genius!

Do you have travel hacks, advice, or tips for travelling with wine? Please share!