These days, it\u2019s easy to find good, great and even exceptional wines in Wine Country.\u00a0 The problem is how do you get the wine you like onto your dining room table?\u00a0 If you live in the area of wineries you like, this really isn\u2019t a problem at all.\u00a0 You simply buy some wine, load it into your car and drive home.\u00a0 But for those less fortunate and for those who like to include wine tasting in their travel plans, especially overseas, getting the wine home is tricky.<\/p>\n
Wine clubs<\/strong>\u00a0 Wine clubs are one way to solve the dilemma.\u00a0 If you live in a state that allows out-of-state shipping (most of them, these days) joining a club means that wine will show up on your doorstep at regular intervals, usually four times a year.\u00a0 This is, after all, the raison d\u2019etre<\/em> of these clubs in the first place.\u00a0 It benefits the winery to be sure, but there\u2019s a lot of benefit to the buyer as well, especially if you are a collector and are willing to let some of the wine age for a bit.<\/p>\n The problem \u2013 and this is a common theme \u2013 is the shipping cost.\u00a0 Almost all clubs offer you a discount (20% is common) but the cost of getting the wine to you often cuts, if not wipes out, the discount.\u00a0 Some wine clubs are becoming sensitive to this and are offering special deals and flat rate shipping, but this only benefits the individuals who buy in volume.\u00a0 For example, a $15 shipping charge for three bottles adds five dollars to the price of every bottle.\u00a0 That\u2019s cost is not unusual.<\/p>\n Shipping services<\/strong>\u00a0 The wine clubs are great if you want a case a year from one producer.\u00a0 But if you are on a wine tasting trip, you are more likely to buy one bottle from each of twelve wineries than twelve bottle from just one.\u00a0 Here\u2019s where shipping services come into play.\u00a0 Of course, there are UPS and FedEx and they are usually present in the towns of Wine Country.\u00a0 But check first; not every common carrier has a license to ship alcohol and those that do don\u2019t have it in every office.<\/p>\n Another alternative is specialized shippers whose primary business is to send wine home to people just like you.\u00a0 They specialize in packing and shipping delicate freight, i.e., wine bottles.\u00a0 A few that we have used are Fitch Mountain in Healdsburg, Buffalo\u2019s Shipping Post in Napa and Safe Haven Wine Services in Paso Robles.\u00a0 A quick Google search will help you find more shippers wherever you may be going.<\/p>\n A variant on these services is to let your hotel take care of it for you.\u00a0 Many have arrangements with shipping services that allow you to bring your bottles to the front desk, fill out some inventory forms and they take care of the rest.\u00a0 It\u2019s very\u00a0convenient and we\u2019ve never had any troubles using the service from hotels we have stayed in.\u00a0 But it is a bit nerve-wracking to leave your precious cargo in the hands of a hotel clerk.<\/p>\n The process of these services runs around $60 per case.\u00a0 In other words, you\u2019re back to adding five bucks to each bottle.\u00a0 If you are proud of a fabulous little low-priced gem you found somewhere, an additional $5 takes away much of the bargain.<\/p>\n Lug it yourself\u00a0 <\/strong>There is the option of carrying your wine home yourself.\u00a0 The economics make sense.\u00a0 Almost any winery will sell you a foam insulated box for under $10.\u00a0 So fill it yourself and take it with you.\u00a0 It may cost you another $25 to include the box with your luggage, so you might be saving $25 in total.\u00a0 And, oh yes, remember to bring packing tape and scissors with you.<\/p>\n That may be good for your wallet but it\u2019s bad for your back.\u00a0 You have to get the wine into the back seat of your car (in summer at any rate; in winter it can go in the trunk), out of the car and into the terminal and then reverse the process on the other end when you land.\u00a0 If your car is a rental, there\u2019s one additional step.\u00a0 Don\u2019t even think about sending wine as luggage if you have a stop on your itinerary.<\/p>\n You are also subject to the tender mercies of two sets of baggage handlers.\u00a0 For the most part, bottles we have taken home this way have arrived intact, but there have been some sad counter-examples.\u00a0 When we travel to Europe, we generally limit our purchases to the legal limit (four bottles per couple), wrap the bottles in bubble wrap that we have brought from home and put them in our luggage.\u00a0 We have had no horror stories thus far, but time will tell.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" These days, it\u2019s easy to find good, great and even exceptional wines in Wine Country.\u00a0 The problem is how do you get the wine you like onto your dining room table?\u00a0 If you live in the area of wineries you like, this really isn\u2019t a problem at all.\u00a0 You simply buy some wine, load it … Continue reading They Ship, You Sip<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/489"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=489"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/489\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":516,"href":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/489\/revisions\/516"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=489"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=489"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=489"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}