So over the past year my wife and I have really gotten bitten by the bug. And to make things better/worse, we’re living in the Bay Area for the year and really trying to explore as much of Napa and Sonoma and surrounding AVAs as we can. (Stalking a lot of y’all for great advice). So we will likely end up with 4-5 cases of wine that we will need to get back to Florida next year I imagine. In August to make things worse.
What would be my best option to achieve that, probably shipping our car back so driving it is not an option. Do any companies offer this? I looked up and saw there’s companies that will package and ship your collection but we won’t have that much to bring back.
Four or five cases? Seems like you might opt to pack them in shipping boxes (or WineCheck if you’re so inclined) and check them on the plane. Yeah, you’ll have to hump the boxes through the terminal on either end of your trip to FL, but you probably won’t be out of pocket too much $$$ and you’ll have the wine immediately without having to worry about the weather.
Trying to not hold too much wine, since we’re only here for a year. That may end up a few more cases, we shall see. That’s a good point I didn’t think about. Will definitely look into that option. Thanks!
I just brought 2 cases back from Australia all the way to Boston. I checked them as luggage. I used an insulated styrofoam 12 pack, packed into a sturdy box. All 24 bottles made it home.
That’s exactly what I’m looking for, only about 45 min from us, well worth the drive! I’m sure we will end up there a lot anyways exploring the tasting rooms.
Find a local storage place that also ships, drop them into storage right before you leave then ship in December when the temps are right. Although 4-6 cs would just fly with me
12 pack shipper $10.00 each if you want to haul them or try to ship them yourself. (You’ll have to lie about what’s in the case if you try to ship it yourself.)
Wine Check $75.00 each complete with shipper.
Ground shipping to Florida about or at least $66 per case plus the shipper. Add $5.00 per case if shipping to a residence. If you insure the wine at full value, that’s extra.
3 Day shipping to FL, about $140.00 per case.
Second Day, about $200.00.
Next Day Air, about $237.00.
These numbers are what UPS quotes us as licensed shippers. Consider them minimums and nothing is firm for more than 30 days because of gas taxes, weather, demand, etc.
It shouldn’t be a problem because the customs service has a policy of allowing one case, and they generally don’t hassle you even with several cases, as explained in this thread.
One big qualification: You are subject to the laws of the state where you land, and that can complicate things, because customs agents are authorized to apply state laws, too.
I would concentrate on accumulating very low production, very off-the-radar, rather expensive wines for this project.
It makes no sense whatsoever to be stockpiling $40 to $60 bottles of 20,000-case-production wines which can be purchased in Florida for LESS money than what you’d be paying in total [after you factor in the cost of shipping with one of these fancy reefer-container shipping outfits].
Try as hard as you can to make tasting appointments with the smallest operations, and ask the proprietor/winemaker if he [or she] has any small production stuff [possibly even experimental] which he’d be willing to sell you.
For instance, you could visit this board member, or this board member, and see whether they have anything off-beat which they could sell you [and which you would never otherwise be able to find in Florida].
Also, the smaller wineries often have their ear to the ground & can give you excellent gossip about similar small- or micro-production wines in the neighborhood.
And it always helps to stumble upon a $125 first vintage from some unknown winemaker before Robert Parker awards the winery a 100-point score and overnight the price skyrockets to $350.
I agree about carrying them with you on the plane. Fastest way to get them to you and the worst they’ll experience is a few minutes on the baggage cart loading and unloading the plane. They’ll be cool coming off too, so the worst experience will be the loading, and it will be much better than you’d get shipping and having them trucked.
But here’s a question - are you going to collect a bunch of wine from different wineries and pack mixed cases or will you buy from one or several wineries?
If the latter, you can probably get them to ship to you, assuming that Florida allows residents to have wine shipped from elsewhere in the country! Obviously as Nathan says, you wouldn’t want to bring back wine that you could get in Florida from a local retailer. But if you have four or five cases, and you can’t get the wines in Florida, you and your wife should each check a few. Don’t know what you’re flying but on Southwest you can check two bags each and I’ve checked cases of wine as “bags” numerous times. So at four cases you’ll pay nothing for the shipping.
BTW -
And it always helps to stumble upon a $125 first vintage from some unknown winemaker before > Robert Parker > awards the winery a 100-point score and overnight the price skyrockets to $350.
Definitely all very good points and sort of our goal in bottles to pick up and bring home. Have got on a few mailing lists of highly praised wineries in Sonoma like Carlisle and Ceritas but was planning on tasting and making sure we enjoyed and then if we continue to buy more just have the winery ship to Florida. Definitely not trying to bring home stuff I can access easily. I already spoke to Belmont Wine and they are willing to hold anything I buy and ship it out next year which is awesome of them.
I really want to get some of Roy Piper’s wine to take home, I got in the lost so hopefully next vintage! I will have to reach out to EMH vineyards and see if we can come by next time we’re up in Napa. Definitely our goal to find lots of underrated amazing wine we can continue to enjoy and wineries to be a part of once we move back east!
This forum is awesome, really appreciate the advice!
It will probably end up a mixed bag. The wineries we buy from directly I plan on talking to them about holding, like Caldwell we are a big fan of, going to try and have our member shipments held and shipped next year all together.
Flying home with them may be the best option, I am going to be very busy this year but if we make it home for the holidays I’ll definitely bring a few cases home and leave with family. That seems like a great start.
Yeah, I was thinking about that, but I didn’t know whether Galloni or Suckling or anyone else could move the California market the way that Parker did.
