Moving across country this summer: how to ship wine?

Hello all,
Our family is relocating from Western PA to California this summer. Any tips for moving wines across country? Have you used a specific commercial mover, or just pack everything in styrofoam boxes and pray?

Thanks for the advice.

How many bottles?

356 bottles

Ship the majority now in a pallet and store in a reputable wine storage locker until you get moved

• shipping cheaper by the pallet
• ship before it warms up
• one less stress to worry about when you move

I used an outfit out of Utah (I believe) called Western something (I also believe).

They use refrigerated trucks (I shipped in July).

Agree with Nola to palletize your wine - I used someone local in CLE to do that. They provided cardboard boxes, and I loaded those myself to help control the cost.

PM Poppy Davis on this board - she knows this company as I remember posting about it a few years back.

I couldn’t find the contact info for them.

Vikrant, I agree with Nola; if possible, find a wine storage company near-ish to where you’ll be in California and ship sometime in the next month or two.

I used Domaine to ship from my old warehouse in Brooklyn to their facility in Napa. They took care of all pick up and logistics, shipping reefer. Don’t think it was outrageously expensive.

Thanks everyone for the help. Will look into palletting/storage options in our new hometown.

Thanks again!

wine in cases in air-conditioned car. Wife and kids strapped to roof rack. They can help you unload each night into hotel and reload each morning.

I used Western Carriers when I moved my wine from WA to CA. They did a great job, but it was not cheap.

I used a company called Wine Movers to move about 95 cases from Detroit to Atlanta in Sept 2017. I was very satisfied … door to door service. They pack on the front end and I unpacked. Cost was about $4,500.

+1 - perfect advice.

One more advantage I would note to planning well ahead is that in some circumstances you can save a lot of money if you are flexible on the timing of when your wine is transported because you can be scheduled to share a truck with someone else, or perhaps they will fit you in to an opening in the shipping schedule when a truck would otherwise sit unused. The savings for being flexible can be significant- up to 50% in my experience.

This

The company in Utah is most likely Advantage Transportation, who will be far less expensive than the full service movers like The Wine Movers or Western Carriers, but it depends on what services you want. Advantage will only pick up and deliver an already palletized shipment, and there must be a loading dock at each end (i.e. no residential pickup or delivery). They just do transport. Full service movers will pack your wines if desired, pick up from your residence, store temporarily if needed and redeliver to your new residence (i.e. first and last mile service). Convenient, but you pay for it.

What Chuck says. We moved from Oregon to Florida some two years ago. I had about 900 bottles. I researched and researched and decided on Advantage (much less expensive than their competitors.) I stacked 4 pallet piles in my basement, then hired a local (Eugene) company. They removed the boxes to my driveway and and placed them on 4 pallets and delivered them to a wine wholesaler in Salem, OR. The next day, Advantage picked them up (refrigerated truck) and eventually delivered them to West Palm Wines–a storage facility in Tampa. So yes, dock to dock. It went very smoothly. Advantage did an excellent job–were a pleasure to work with, and I would highly recommend them. But like Chuck says, there has to be a loading dock at each end.
Chuck, I think you turned me on to Advantage. Many thanks!

Call Joel Rubens at Western - DM me if you would like his number.

I use AT to ship pallets to Florida. $400 +/- per skid.

Boy, Western is the one I thought I used, but Chuck’s description of Advantage’s process better fits what I did. I shipped about 1,000 bottles, and cost in my head was $800- will dig back through some old emails.

Agree with Chuck - if you don’t need a full service shipper Advantage is the way to go. We use them all the time to move wine from the west coast warehouse to the east coast warehouse - temperature controlled.

Have you used them recently? I heard from a friend they were at about $600 per skid earlier this year, but I just got a quote over $1000 per skid. Wondering if costs have just gone up that much?