I’ve seen them mentioned on WB in the past, and they may have taken part in Berserkerday as well?
That’s too bad. I have one of their products and it’s great.
They were selling Vingard Valise, not sure if they acquired them.
Yes, it’s a shame. I have an 8 bottle carrier and it’s worked out great. I went to the website and pretty much all items are marked as sold out.
A few years ago right before the sale of the brand, the old owners had a massive sale on the cases. I picked up a beautiful 12 bottle wine suitcase for just over $100. The new ownership just bought the brand and design patents I believe
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I got in on that sale as well! Sadly it was stolen outside the oakland airport on our way to Napa…
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Yes that was early on during covid, I was at home working and figured I would be traveling again someday so I bought 2 of each size. They have come in handy!
Yes - it’s bulky buy highly effective. I plan to use mine in a trip in a couple weeks.
Sad news but it did always seem like a very niche market.
I think the issue is now there are a bunch of knock offs on Amazon for half the price.
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https://thewinecheck.com/about
I’ve got fearless leader Todd French’s Wine Check, and it works great. Made a good number of journeys full of champagne, including multiple trips to Hawaii.
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The Wine Check is terrific. When fully collapsed, it fits into half of my roller board suitcase. I then buy a $12 cardboard shipper when I get to my destination. That way I only have to pay for a checked bag on the return trip.
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Vingard spanks the wine check, in every category, IMO.
Especially in ease of use
They have not taken part in BerserkerDay, no - they did make an near-exact copy our Wine Check (named it VinXpress), when the owner of the IP attempted to acquire The Wine Check and failed.
By ‘ease of use’ you must not be referring to loading and unloading the wine. Definitely easier to pull/push with the spinner wheels.
It’s a completely different product at 3.5x the price, that’s why there was (previously) room for both in the marketplace, with plenty of happy owners of both wine carriers.
For those who still want a hardshell wine suitcase, there are a lot of direct-from-China copycats for quite a bit less than VGV on Amazon
Wine tourism is REALLY rough right now, that’s for sure
I bought a 12 bottle one during that sale, and more recently a 5 bottle one at a good price. Very easy to travel with!
I have both; the issue with vingarde is that you’ll exceed 50 if it’s completely full of wine. What I like with the vingarde is that you can use half as a suitcase and half to bring 6 bottles. If I’m going to transport 12 bottles, I’ll use a wine check. You can even put some bottles or 375s on the top and not exceed 50 lb.
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50 pounds is an issue with a full VGV, but it is not accurate that you will always go over if it’s full. 12 standard Bdx bottles is no problem staying under 50. Champagne or older Bedrock is a different story, though. I generally limit what I pack to 11 bottles if there’s more than 1 or maybe 2 heavier bottles. If it’s all heavier bottles, probably best to stick to 10 bottles. But I’ve flown full cases several times including 10 + 1 mag.
I agree that the “half suitcase plus 6 bottles” configuration is very handy, as is the ability to swap out one two-bottle insert for a mag insert.
At the price I was very happy to have bought mine during the 2020 sale, but I’m glad I have two of them and I just wish I’d bought more than one mag insert at the time as there have been a couple of times when having two would have been handy.
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The mag inserts are good but don’t fit many mags well
I have a full cardboard/styro case for use in the US. It’s bulky but works great point to point. So I use it here when I’m visiting wineries and have a rental car.
Was looking at the VGV for my trips to Europe. Humping up and down stairs and down city street on my travels is neigh near impossible with the full case. The VGV appears to be much better suited to assembling a case during travels where I (mostly) travel via train and pick up bottles from chateau, bodegas or store.
Hope I can get my paws on one before I fly out in September.
Agree that mags tend to have more variation in shape than 750s so you’re more likely to have something less than a custom tailored fit compared to 750s, but so far I’ve always been able to make it work with the mags I’ve flown with.
Champagne mags (especially taittinger) don’t fit well at all.