Ship a bottle of wine?

[zack67360]

Besides the obvious issue of the bottle breaking, are there any other issues with shipping a bottle of wine 1000 miles? Will the trip and the no doubt rough handling shake the bottle up and ruin the wine? I figure bubble wrap would be the cheapest and best packing material. Anyone else shipped or recieved a bottle of wine and what issues have you encountered.
Thanks much,
zack

 

[Runningwolf]

I have sent from PA to CA with no issues. Only use Fedex or UPS. DO NOT use the postal service as it's a federal offense.

 

[Wayne1]

I have shipped numerous times via FedEx ground with no trouble. I usually use the special wine shipping boxes from Uline.com

 

[Julie]

Lke Dan said do not ship USPS, it is illegal and don't tell what you are shipping when using USP or FEDEX, they have policy. If you have to say anything, it's a marinade

 

[Runningwolf]

Presque Isle sells the shipping boxes I use and no other packing is needed. I do still add a little bit though.

 

[20jlr]

Toner cartridges come in a great pouch that is just perfect for shipping wine across the country.

 

[digitaleye]

IMO UPS is the most lenient when it comes to shipping wine. I ship 10-20 bottles a year via UPS, usually 1 or 2 at a time, and have yet to have a problem.

I always use styro-foam bottle shippers and always stuff copious amounts of padding around the bottles (inside the shipper) so they don't "rattle" around in the shipper. I usually use a larger square or rectangular box to try and disguise the contents, something that doesn't say "wine inside" and then stuff the rest of the space (outside the shipper but inside the larger box) with styro-foam peanuts, again stuff well so there's no movement of the shipper inside the box.

 

[zack67360]

Thank you for the responses. Now I feel confident in shipping a bottle to a friend in CA. Will have to get one of the shipping boxes and then place in another larger box with padding.
z

 

[DoctorCAD]

I've shipped grape juice to California from NC. No problems. Grape juice was really old, about 2 years or more

 

[saddlebronze]

I sent some via Fedex with no issues. I got some wine delivered and they had these neat egg crate inserts in there and I just re-used the whole thing.

 

[Putterrr]

Popcorn makes a great packing material. I have shipped 26 oz rum bottles from the arctic via the post office (yes its illegal) with no issues. Include a movie and your friend will be all set. lol

 

[digitaleye]

Also, I forgot to add that I usually create the shipping labels online so you can just pop in to a UPS and drop off the package in a few seconds. IIRC there is no spot on the ups form online that asks what the contents of the package are and if you don't have to deal with the folks at the store to pay and such nobody asks and nobody tells

 

[MurphyTexas]

I've never shipped my own bottles but years ago I was a "wine of the month club" guy and they came monthly without ever a single incident. And the boxes were labeled accordingly - no hiding the contents.

 

[saddlebronze]

I think that is the amusing part. Businesses can ship you wine, but you can't ship it to anyone. Sounds like a Gubmint rule.

 

[digitaleye]

Of course, if you're licensed to ship wine you can, no problem. Most wine shops and wineries are licensed to do so but most individuals aren't

 

[ibglowin]

I ship my custom "steak marinade" every once in a while.....

No problems as i seem to always have plenty of approved Fedex/UPS wine shippers out in the garage!

 

[jswordy]

As far as legal/illegal, last I knew the USPS regulations do not specifically address wine. They address liquor and beer. By the book, wine seems to be in a gray zone as it is not in the regs.

That is a moot point, though, since none of the shippers - USPS, UPS or FedEx - will ship alcohol of any sort knowingly.

There are also myriad state regs about shipping wine. In my state of Tennessee, it is illegal to ship wine into or out of the state - even if you are a licensed winery. Only a liquor distributor can do that. Wineries with a direct shipper permit can ship in-state only. Shipping wine to consumers in-state without a permit is a felony.

But as a practical matter, hardly any national wine contest could be held if wines were not in practice shipped by carrier, so it turns out to be more a matter of "don't ask, don't tell" and making sure the bottles are so well packaged that the issue never arises through breakage. And I have not yet had any trouble getting wineries to send me wine in brown packages to Tennessee. I just select those who do not specifically say they ship only to certain states.

While it is geared to wineries, the Wine Institute has a neat interactive map with info on state shipping regs: http://www.wineinstitute.org/initiatives/stateshippinglaws