Vino in cabin
 

This will probably get moved but after consideration I thought this was the best place to start.

mini & ms mini are flying DUB - TLS - DUB next month, travelling the region, staying with friends etc., we would like to return with some of the excellent wine from this region. Can we carry on a box of the stuff as hand luggage? if not, what is the best way to transport a dozen bottles?

Based on way too much experience a while back, please DO NOT arrive at TLS with a cardboard box full of 12 bottles of wine and expect to check it in and collect it at DUB in the same condition. There are just too many ways for loss or damage in transit to occur.

I lost count of the number of occasions we had multiple boxes of wine on holiday charter flights, packed in by the handlers in Spain (usually) in such a way that there wasn't a hope of the box staying where it had been put as the aircraft rotated on takeoff. Result was a big crash in the hold, a lot of wet smelly bags, and a nightmare for the loaders at DUB, who rapidly discovered on opening the hold doors that there was a strong smell of wine, and usually a dangerous quantity of broken glass all over the place, which required removal before it was safe to unload the bags.

Equally, given the manner in which bags are handled by most of the automatic belt based systems, wine packed in a suitcase is also pretty much at risk.

Carry on of a case of 12 is likely to be frowned on, due to size, weight and security implications, if "the system" won't allow a 3 inch penknife, then it's for sure not going to allow 12 glass bottles that suitably modified on a door frame or seat arm rest will make an excellent weapon.

I suspect that you're going to be struggling to get 12 bottles back on the flight, unless you can get very lucky and put them in something like a couple of laptop computer bags so that the size and weight is under the limits, but it will still then very much depend on the humour, or otherwise, of the security check staff at TLS.

It sounds a bit obvious and doesn't really answer the question, but why not just buy some packing materials in France and post the box back to Eire? If you pack them properly you'll have them all intact within a week. It's a pain but when the alternative is breaking the lot...

Look for "wine searcher" on google. You might be able to find it closer to home for a few quid more and save yourself some hassle. A case of wine weighs 15-20kg, so some carriers might not let it on as hand luggage and it's a pain to lug around.

or you can try and get them packed into half-cases of 6 each, you can also get these half-cases in robust wooden packaging, and if you are buying them from a single maison or any merchant, they usually will delightfully pack them for you, but as is the case with almost all les Francias, if you buy plonk you'll get a carre4 bag, if you buy good stuff, you'll get help packing them.!!

Weight is going to be 6x.750ml x 2 so about 4.5 kg per half doz, and 1/2 again for the glass so 8kg odd per half case, slim is spot on with the estimate.

Champagne bottles are heavier by a 1/3rd again, and will not fit into the standard 1/2 case.

There must be a demand for sending wine around the world because every French Post Office sells post pre-paid stout cardboard boxes to ship a couple bottles of wine. From memory they are the purple boxes, and the price is quite reasonable. Whether customs will be so reasonable in your own country is something that I can't comment on.

Both destinations are wthin the EU - customs does not apply

We brought wine back from TLS we packed it in a hard shell samsonite padded out with clothes. Wine arrived back with no problems.:ok:

Getting wine without being hassled by customs/tax because it's all in the EU - I'm envious patdavies.

Paying EU prices makes me even more so. Love their well-priced quaffing wines. In Oz, we get slugged by tax, and pay twice as much for the same sort of quality. Must be some complex post-colonial guilt thing.

At the top end though, a really good bottle of wine [about 4 quality levels up from the UK supermarket big seller of the quite good Jacobs Creek wines] sells for $A30+ in the bottleshop here in OZ. Yet the same bottle apparently fetches only $A8 at the exporter next door to the bottleshop without tax attached. I don't know what it would sell for in EU/UK after freight and sales margin is added, but it's pretty damn good wine and I guess $A20 sales price in Europe which is GBP8 or EUR12; at Chateauneuf-de-Pape, you'd have to be in the EU35-45 bracket to match it.

As Overrun said , we have to pay 35+ for anything decent here, however what I have noticed is that winemakers here are releasing their vintages earlier and earlier, somuch so that often it's really not ready to drink, there is also not as much variety here in OZ as in Europe, though the big aussie reds still have a place, outside of the cabernet, shiraz and latterley pinot noir (which is a difficult little vine to keep), and recently merlot (which is blended to "age" the wine and give it body.)

On the subject of tax here, there are a number of hits, in addition to the duty, we also have to pay a "wine equalisation" tax, and suppliers/primary producers have what's known as a SAGARA tax which is the governments nice way of repeat tax on a self re-generating asset, in otherwords the vines. It all gets passed on to the consumer.

nice eh ?

I told a little fib to customs when we were importing our "personal" french champagne stash, but I still got nailed for 300 aud.

They sell wine in Tesco, where I live. You may have a branch near you!

I've just had another Idea. Why not visit your local wine shop?

Sweet:mad: Jesus.

you obviously know your wines then :D