For The Love Of Port

I have a 7 day trip scheduled in October - I know, I should have taken the Harvest tour - bad me, sorry :-(

However, if I am successful in picking up more than a few bottles of port - how do I get it home?

I've thought of Fedex - anyone done this?

What's the deal on duty, taxes, etc? Also, will an older bottle of port survive a trip home?

Thanks.

Take a 12 bottle styro shipper with you when you leave the states. You will not find one once over there. Take tape too to seal the box

Just declare it as wine and give a low estimate and you won't have any issues. Now if you say its worth $5,000 then you may...hint hint.

Flying home with it as checked luggage is no problem. If the check in person this side of the pond says you can't becuse its too much alcohol show her this link from the TSA website and you're fine (print it out and take it with you. Port doesn't exceed the 24% ABV regulation so you can bring back whatever you want.

Also, keep in mind that most of the stuff you can get in the states is actually cheaper in the states. So I would only buy stuff you cannot get here. And wine shops there love to leave Port in the hot windows of their shop, so beware.

Ferreira's Duque de Braganca was very inexpensive at the Oporto Airport.
The duty on wine, including fortifieds, is minimal. It isn't worth the time spent for the customs officials. They're more interested in the total value of overseas purchases. Go with Andy's suggestions.

Thanks.

Andy - your link didn't work well (404). Can you try again?

opps, thats not good..try this one

http://www.tsa.gov/travelers/airtravel/ ... _1189.shtm

While visiting Portugal late last year, I picked up a few (6+) bottles and just packed 'em in my suitcase. Of course, I had to suffer through carrying all of my clothes in a plastic grocery bag, but it was all worth the effort. :)

Sounds like a good plan.

My only remaining question is the great state of Maryland. Theoretically I'm not allowed to have any wine shipped into the state. Numerous web pages have declined to ship to me.

Any idea if I will have trouble at BWI. I will be connecting in Newark, NJ so it is likely I will go through customs there.

Hi Marc and welcome to the website. Glad to have you with us and hope you will stay beyond this current thread.

I assume you are a serious Port lover and that is obvious by your planned trip. Where are you going to be visiting?

As to bringing in wine to MD, that is NOT what they consider shipping in wine. You are carrying in wine and it is very different. Do not ship FED UPS or with DHL or others, that is when you could potentially wind up in trouble.

Enjoy the Motherland and thanks for stopping in. Don't be a stranger!

How about a brief intro for us?

Sincerely,

Roy

I might also add that if you know what places you will be visiting, print out a list of current US prices from Winesearcher. When we visited Noval last year, Alex B. had the foresite to have the current prices for the Noval Nacionals, so it made it really easy to see which wines were bargins in Portugal and which you could get cheaper here in the states.

I neglected to bring a case shipper and ended up buyng and then taping 12 individual shippers together - I had to borrow tape and it was an absolute pain. Take Andy's advice and carry over an empty case shipper.

If you end up not filling it up with Port, get some cheaper Portugese wines or perhaps even some bottles of olive oil to round out the case.

I am a new comer to Port - introduced about 1.5 years ago by my brother in law. I find I tend to like the older tawnies and Colheita's - 1944 is mighty nice. Only had a few "good" vintages - but I'm starting to like the older ones.

For our 6 day romp through portugal we are spending 2 days in Porto, 2 days in the Douro Valley (Quinta De la Rosa) and 2 days in Sintra. It's a short trip, but the best I can do since I'm leaving my 2 kids with grandma and grandpa.

I like to try new things - not the same bottle over and over. I find that the selection available in the US is rather limited and I'm looking forward to finding something new and different on this trip.

Thanks all for the advice on getting the goods back home.