Wine Travel Trips

This site is for discussion of travel to the "Land of Port & Madeira" as well as food related to Port or Portugal. Additionally your Offline tasting events can be planned and reviewed here.

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Stewart T.
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Wine Travel Trips

Post by Stewart T. »

As I prepare for departure for my seventh For The Love Of Port Harvest Tour, I thought that I'd ask people about their favorite "Wine Travel" tips. Do you have some "ah-ha" tips that have made wine travel (to Portgual or any other wine region) easier, more fun or a better experience?

I'll contribute the first tip.

The first two trips I traveled to Portugal with a carboard/styro wine shipper, I arrived back in Seattle both times to discover that weight of the wine bottles had punched out perfect circles of styrofoam underneath each bottle. I assume that the stryofoam was thinnest underneath each bottle, and that the weight of the bottles being banged around as checked luggage just knocked out the styrofoam out. I didn't have any broken bottles, but it was a concern. On my third trip, i stuffed clothing, socks or other soft materials like a small piece of bubble wrap into each styro slot before putting the wine bottle in. No styro punchouts since!

Stewart
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Andy Velebil
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Re: Wine Travel Trips

Post by Andy Velebil »

Stewart T. wrote:AOn my third trip, i stuffed clothing, socks or other soft materials like a small piece of bubble wrap into each styro slot before putting the wine bottle in. No styro punchouts since!

Stewart
I use bubble wrap. I roll the bottles up in them, and leave a small square on the bottom of the bottles. Prevents the sqeeky nose from bottles rubbing styro and prevents bottom blow out.

Here's some more;

I've learned to save some older clothes, that are still in good shape, to travel with. Such as socks and underwear, polo's, tee's. I simply throw them out when they get dirty. Less clothes to deal with as the trip goes on, and frees up space in luggage for other things. I also take easily washable things, such as Underarmor stuff I can take with me into the shower, wash, hang it up and it's clean and dry by morning or later in the day. That way there is less to carry and makes more room in carry on.

Find one pair of shoes that will do everything. I've got some gortex waterproof ones from Ecco that cover everything I need to wear except being in a full formal suit. That saves a ton of space on shoes.

Leave the laptop at home. A cell phone does everything you'll need (You're on vacation remember) and is small/light. And when you don't worry about being online you're vacation is much better.

Take unbleached cheese cloth. Old wine bottles traveling will need to be decanted through it due to sediment.

Take a few different sized t-corks with you to reseal bottles after you decant them.

Small notebook and two pens.

You won't easily find styro shippers abroad. Take a case shipper with you.

Always take a small roll of clear packing tape. For your wine box, and whatever emergencies need it.

Unless you're a huge photo guy, a smaller sized high quality camera will do most people just fine, lighter, and takes up FAR less space and weight. Take spare batteries with you.
Andy Velebil Good wine is a good familiar creature if it be well used. William Shakespeare http://www.fortheloveofport.com
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Glenn E.
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Re: Wine Travel Trips

Post by Glenn E. »

My only additional travel tip is pretty simple, really: know the law. Many people know that you're allowed to bring back a bottle of wine (technically 1 liter) for personal use, but what they don't realize is that they're allowed to bring back 1 bottle of wine duty free. You can bring back more, but you may have to pay duty on the alcohol. (Current CBP guidelines use 1 case as a reasonable limit for personal use, but I've brought back nearly 2 cases before and they didn't blink.) But here's the thing... the duty on a bottle of wine is ~$5 per gallon. Or almost exactly $1 per bottle. Pretty trivial on that $100 bottle of Port you're bringing back, right? You may also have to pay IRS taxes, but those are capped at 3% of value when entering the country.

Furthermore, the CBP agent is going to have to step out of line and fill out a form in order to collect your duty. I've never seen them do that - it's just not worth their time. 99% of the time they're just going to wave you through.

A word on the "personal use" clause... if the CBP agent thinks you're importing the alcohol for commercial use, he's going to require you to have a tax id and import license. Which you don't have. But having 24 different bottles from 12 different stops on your tour, with a story to go along with each one, is pretty convincing when you're arguing for personal use. Just don't try to bring back 5 cases of wine and 2 cubans. ;)
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Andy Velebil
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Re: Wine Travel Trips

Post by Andy Velebil »

Glenn E. wrote:My only additional travel tip is pretty simple, really: know the law. Many people know that you're allowed to bring back a bottle of wine (technically 1 liter) for personal use, but what they don't realize is that they're allowed to bring back 1 bottle of wine duty free. You can bring back more, but you may have to pay duty on the alcohol. (Current CBP guidelines use 1 case as a reasonable limit for personal use, but I've brought back nearly 2 cases before and they didn't blink.) But here's the thing... the duty on a bottle of wine is ~$5 per gallon. Or almost exactly $1 per bottle. Pretty trivial on that $100 bottle of Port you're bringing back, right? You may also have to pay IRS taxes, but those are capped at 3% of value when entering the country.

Furthermore, the CBP agent is going to have to step out of line and fill out a form in order to collect your duty. I've never seen them do that - it's just not worth their time. 99% of the time they're just going to wave you through.

A word on the "personal use" clause... if the CBP agent thinks you're importing the alcohol for commercial use, he's going to require you to have a tax id and import license. Which you don't have. But having 24 different bottles from 12 different stops on your tour, with a story to go along with each one, is pretty convincing when you're arguing for personal use. Just don't try to bring back 5 cases of wine and 2 cubans. ;)
The same holds true when coming into Portugal with a case of old Ports. Have your typed out itinerary so you can show you are visiting friends/etc. and not trying to bring them in to sell. Me, 3 Portuguese Customs officers, and 45 minutes later I was finally let go. Took the 3rd one, who was older and spoke better English to understand I wasn't there to sell. I wasn't sure I or my bottles would make it out, neither did my friends waiting on the other side who didn't get stopped. Oh, and have a phone number of someone in-country you can call if need be that speaks the language and can help.
Andy Velebil Good wine is a good familiar creature if it be well used. William Shakespeare http://www.fortheloveofport.com
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Eric Ifune
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Re: Wine Travel Trips

Post by Eric Ifune »

Just a personal viewpoint on travel in general. Don't spend too much time taking pictures. Absorb the sights, sounds, aromas. I can't live the world via a 5 inch screen. Ask lots of questions, but have some knowledge beforehand. In my experience, winemakers love to talk to people who have a real interest and some knowledge of their wines, and they can be exceedingly generous to them. I've had this experience not just in Portugal, but also in the Rhone Valley, Germany, Italy, Alsace, California, ect. and etc. Lots of barrel tastes on the spur of the moment and of wines they were especially proud of. Fritz Hasselbach of the Gunderloch estate started pouring me a bunch of TBA's and Hubert Trimbach once took me out to dinner just for showing up unannounced!
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Andy Velebil
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Re: Wine Travel Trips

Post by Andy Velebil »

Eric Ifune wrote:Fritz Hasselbach of the Gunderloch estate started pouring me a bunch of TBA's and Hubert Trimbach once took me out to dinner just for showing up unannounced!
Lucky!!! [notworthy.gif]
Andy Velebil Good wine is a good familiar creature if it be well used. William Shakespeare http://www.fortheloveofport.com
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Eric Ifune
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Re: Wine Travel Trips

Post by Eric Ifune »

It was an extraordinary day. I'd visited F.E. Trimbach before and they had been open on Saturdays; but on this one occasion, I drove most of the night Friday and got there Sat. morning. I found the wrought iron gates closed at about 10 am. I was staring forlornly through the gates when a pair of gentlemen in a car asked me if I was trying to get into Trimbach. "Yes, but they seemed to be closed." "Wait with us for a moment." A few minutes later, Hubert Trimbach drives up and unlocks the gates and we enter. The two gentlemen turned out to be their Scandinavian importers. I was just along for the ride. Hubert and Pierre Trimach then proceed to give a tasting of all their current lineup, then several of the Frederic Emile and Clos Ste. Hune. Just the 5 of us, including Hubert and Pierre. I must have been enjoying myself too much since Hubert mentioned that I seemed to have a goofy smile the entire time. The last wine was a blind Clos Ste. Hune. I guessed 1976 and Hubert concurred, but it turned out to be a 1972, supposedly a poor vintage. It was one of the greatest dry white wines I've ever had. By this time, it was after 4 pm. I was getting to thank everyone profusely, but then Hubert says they're going to eat at a nearby restaurant, do I want to join them? How could I say no! We took some of the left over Frederic Emile and Clos Ste. Hune, walked down the street and enjoyed some great tarte flambee, choucroute garnie, and baeckeoffe.
Yes, I was very lucky.
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Andy Velebil
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Re: Wine Travel Trips

Post by Andy Velebil »

Eric Ifune wrote:It was an extraordinary day. I'd visited F.E. Trimbach before and they had been open on Saturdays; but on this one occasion, I drove most of the night Friday and got there Sat. morning. I found the wrought iron gates closed at about 10 am. I was staring forlornly through the gates when a pair of gentlemen in a car asked me if I was trying to get into Trimbach. "Yes, but they seemed to be closed." "Wait with us for a moment." A few minutes later, Hubert Trimbach drives up and unlocks the gates and we enter. The two gentlemen turned out to be their Scandinavian importers. I was just along for the ride. Hubert and Pierre Trimach then proceed to give a tasting of all their current lineup, then several of the Frederic Emile and Clos Ste. Hune. Just the 5 of us, including Hubert and Pierre. I must have been enjoying myself too much since Hubert mentioned that I seemed to have a goofy smile the entire time. The last wine was a blind Clos Ste. Hune. I guessed 1976 and Hubert concurred, but it turned out to be a 1972, supposedly a poor vintage. It was one of the greatest dry white wines I've ever had. By this time, it was after 4 pm. I was getting to thank everyone profusely, but then Hubert says they're going to eat at a nearby restaurant, do I want to join them? How could I say no! We took some of the left over Frederic Emile and Clos Ste. Hune, walked down the street and enjoyed some great tarte flambee, choucroute garnie, and baeckeoffe.
Yes, I was very lucky.
Awesome Story!
Andy Velebil Good wine is a good familiar creature if it be well used. William Shakespeare http://www.fortheloveofport.com
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Eric Ifune
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Re: Wine Travel Trips

Post by Eric Ifune »

Awesome Story!
Yes, I've been very lucky, but I wanted to point out the generosity of many winemakers. Perhaps not quite up to Hubert Trimbach, but I've had wonderful and great experiences at Gunderloch, Muller-Catoir, Robert Weil, Dr. Fischer (when Hans-Henning Fischer was still alive), Schloss Saarstein, Weinbach, Hugel, Dorigo (in Friuli), Calera(I remember a younger Josh Jensen climbing up precariously stacked barrels to get samples to taste, and using a swiss army knife corkscrew to open bottled wines).
Eric Menchen
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Re: Wine Travel Trips

Post by Eric Menchen »

I can report one successful trip now with the Vinguard Valise: http://vingardevalise.com/

Like Andy, I sometimes travel with clothes that I discard. These aren't nice things like shirts I would otherwise donate to charity, but the worn out undershirts in the drawer that probably should be replaced, and the socks with a hole or two in them. Why do I still have these? Well, they still work. But really?

Talking to winemakers or brewers and really letting them know how much you care and appreciate their work often does result in an experience you otherwise would not get. I don't do it for those rewards. I do it because I genuinely feel that way. But I do really like the barrel pull, the sample of something special, or the opportunity to buy a bottle that was listed as sold out.
Lisa Stevens
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Re: Wine Travel Trips

Post by Lisa Stevens »

I also highly recommend the Vinguard Valise. It was awesome and really protected my wine.

On going through customs, Vic and I had 26 bottles between the two of us. Total $ value was $1,317. The customs guys just asked us if we were brining in bought stuff that was valued at more than $1,600. I said no and they waved us through at SeaTac airport. Easiest time I have had bringing in wine so far!

-Lisa
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