When you fly with Port ... how do you carry/pack it?

[Roy Hersh]

Personally, I hope someday in the not too distant future, we'll be able to carry Port on board in our carry on luggage once again. Remember the good old days when we too that for granted?

So, what do you do to protect your Port when flying?

[Glenn E.]

I have an 8-bottle Wine Cruzer, which is a suitcase specifically designed to carry 750ml bottles. It's hard-sided, weighs a ton, and feels like it could withstand a nuclear blast. It is serious gear.

I picked the 8-bottle size because when fully loaded with 8 bottles of wine it comes in right about 42-45 lbs, which conveniently fits below the airline weight restrictions for checked baggage. I have no fear that an airline could break or crush this case... it'd take some really serious mishandling to damage it. It also has places for a pair of locks (TSA approved, of course) so that you can feel safe(r) about the contents not being stolen.

But I have also traveled by simply wrapping bottles in several layers of clothing and placing them carefully in the center of my carry-on bag (which I then check). That has worked just fine, but I don't think I'd do that with a valuable bottle.

[Eric Menchen]

Last time flying from Oporto I packed nearly the equivalent of 10 bottles (there were some halves) in my main suitcase, with all sorts of clothes and newspaper packed around the bottles. I did have two of those three bottle wood crates from Quinta do Noval with bottles, with newspaper and stuff around the bottles in there too, and a couple of bubble wrap bags. All made it fine.

On my last trip to Europe, I took a styrofoam three bottle package like you get when wine is shipped to you, and some tape. I put bottles in it, taped the two pieces of styrofoam together, and put that in the center of suitcase. I felt a bit safer with this option.

When I next go to Portugal I hope to have a carrier like Glenn's.

[goncalo devesas]

The best for me it is definitely the styrofoam package with 2 styrofoam tablets in both sides, with some tape around it.

It keeps a good temperature and it´s guaranteed not to fail, when it concerns keeping the bottles in one piece.

[Moses Botbol]

Bubble wrap bottle in put in center of suitcase in a plastic bag. Not ideal but not accidents yet.

[Symon B]

hi all i have an interesting queiry if you get loose bottles delivered by currior that are say older than 30 ys old do you have the bottles upright in travel ore lying down
an important point because i had some w 1958 that came in a van that was on its side and 4 bottles had lost a load of port through the cork they were put upright streight away by the van man i was peeved i baught 12 and most were top sholder ore worse i baught them bliend in auction
it was still nice port gave it 91
iv had 77 sent same way and had no prob even 1912 sent with no prob please advise thankyou symonb

[Roy Hersh]

It is hard to speculate Symon. Typically the bottles I receive are ALL lying down on their side. The only time I have received bottles that were upright in a case were cask samples of wines I had personally blended and shipped back to the USA (in screw cap closures, for this very reason) from So. Africa. I would assume that in the UK that the delivery vehicles ... if legally permitted to deliver alcohol ... would be liable for mishandling your delivery. That is what insurance is for. I am not a lawyer, not all that familiar with how things are done in the UK and certainly not an expert when it comes to torts law. You'll have to hope someone from the UK will chime in or at least someone from Europe who may know the legalities.

[Roy Hersh]

Glenn,

So you finally went out and bought a Wine Cruzer eh? How do you like it so far?

[Glenn E.]

Love it! I've had it for a little over a year now, but it didn't get much use until our last trip to Europe. I used it to bring back the Port that I ordered from Goncalo.

The airline people were even a little bit interested in it... asking questions about it, etc. I did as you suggested and put the small foam ring on the bottom of each bottle for extra padding and then just used the thicker rings on the top to hold them in place. Worked great!

Granted, it's an expensive case at $300, but when I got it I was travelling to Ireland regularly and so I figured I'd be able to bring back 8 bottles on every trip making it a worthwhile investment.

[Eric Menchen]

So Glenn got me googling. His carrier holds eight bottles and has a little margin from the 50# limit. If you want to spend a bit more, here's a nine bottle carrier that will still keep you below 50#:
http://portlandwinegear.com/products/9- ... e-from-icc
And here is another 9 bottle carrier:
http://www.iwawine.com/index/page/produ ... r+-+Silver
Of course you have to go with the second one because it is cheaper, and those look like Port bottles in the photo.

Anyone using any of these?

[Derek T.]

Remember the good old days when we too that for granted?

I remember my first trip to Oporto where, on the return flight, I packed 9 bottles of VP in a trolley-dolly-carry-on-bag ("officially" weighing 6kg) and checked another bag with all my clothes in into the hold. No questions, no breakages and no terrorist bombs. Life was simple then.

[Peter W. Meek]

... Remember the good old days when we took that for granted? ...

I can remember when you could walk into an airport, put cash on the counter, give any name you liked, and fly anywhere you could afford to fly. Privacy; it is no one's business but my own whether or where I want to fly.

It was when they started hijacking planes to Cuba that all this crap started. I've flown less and less since then. Finally I was made to remove my shoes. I couldn't get up off the floor and no one would help me. I had to crawl 50 feet to a wall where I could brace myself to get back on my feet (they threatened me with guns when I tried to use stuff near the portal to get up). I've never flown since, and I never will until they quit all this ********.

On 9/11, fewer than 4000 people died; that's about 2 month's carnage on American highways. Where is the fuss being made about that? There were something like 44,000 commercial flights (more than twice that including all flights) in the air over the US that day; 4 were hijacked. You face worse odds if you climb a ladder a few times a year. Why are we all being harassed by government goons, just because we want or need to fly somewhere? Open the gates; let anyone fly who wants to; let anyone bring a gun aboard who wants to. I'd take my chances under those conditions to avoid the momma-knows-best mentality that prevails today. I drive a car; I can read the statistics; if I can be allowed to risk my life in traffic, why not in the air? The terrorists have won! It took the cooperation of our government to achieve it, but they won.

[Eric Ifune]

I like horizontal styrofoam shippers. I prefer these to the uprights. The bottles seem more secure and move about less.

[Roy Hersh]

My brother bought me a Wine Cruzer in 2007 when I hit 50. It has now been to Europe and back six times, domestically probably another 20 flights. Only once was anything broken. I never lock my case and it gets opened by TSA quite often. Others have read this in my blog before, but this might be a first for some newbies. I was going from Porto to London in 2008 and it was clear from the way the bottle imploded/pancaked that it was lifted part way out of its case and then dropped back in. Sadly for me, when I got to London and retrieved my checked luggage there was the amazing aroma and I knew it was the 1952 Dalva that was broken, it was just a matter of how many of them broke. Fortunately just one. The hassle of cleaning that out along with the microscopic glass shards ... horrendous to say the least. They should have padded the wheel wells better in my opinion. That said, it was the only bottle lost and Glenn already mentioned what I now have done, ever since to protect against a repeat performance by some careless dork working airport security, who has no regard for my wine.

But I'll leave Peter to lead that charge!

Now my brother turns 50 in a week and he has asked for a return of the favor and I'll buy him a wine carrier too, as he heads to Burgundy at least annually and overseas and to Mexico a couple of times a year too. (No Suckling jokes please). In fact, my brother will be joining us for the 2010 Fortification Tour ... his first time ever visiting Portugal.

He likes Port quite a bit, Madeira even moreso. But he's consumed a boatload of my Ports over the years and "gets it" ... in return for me grubbing his insanely decadent Burgundy holdings.

Thanks to Eric, I will explore these other 9 bottle options. That said, I have even smooshed Magnums into my 750 slots at times ... no choice and never once exceeded the weight limit. I have one of the early Wine Cruzer models ... yes, just 2.5 years old. I've heard from friends that they've improved things with a slightly longer handle for taller customers this is a big deal and also more rugged casters, for curbs and escalators and the such.

[Peter W. Meek]

...it was clear from the way the bottle imploded/pancaked that it was lifted part way out of its case and then dropped back in....

But I'll leave Peter to lead that charge! ...

I think that if I was transporting serious wine in a case like that, I would embed a small camera in the padding, facing up from the lower half, with a very wide-angle lens. It would take 3-4 pictures per second any time light was shining into the case (or perhaps when the case was open). It would time-stamp each picture. If you set it up to record audio, you might even discover what their initial verbal reaction was: "Ha! No one will ever do anything about that anyway. Close it up and don't say anything."

Broken bottle? Check the pictorial record; then go to the airline/TSA and show them who had their hand in the case when the breakage happened. No help there? Go public, and go to your congress-critter: "This man, at this time, broke a $200 bottle of wine, and his organization refuses to investigate or make amends."

A camera system like this could be assembled with a few hundred bucks worth of off-the-shelf parts. The first one would require a bit of time and effort to research and assemble, but after that they could be made for not much more than the cost of the parts. Google { spy store } to see the huge number of places that sell stuff like this. (Check with your lawyer to be sure there are no legal obstacles to putting something like this in your luggage, and to see what you are allowed to do with the recordings.)

[Roy Hersh]

I remember in HS reading Abbie Hoffman's book "Steal This Book" - a couple of times in fact, and you are starting to remind me of him.

[Peter W. Meek]

Rarified company.

My appearance? My attitude? (My erudition? HA!) Maybe just where I happen to live?

I knew a lot of that crowd; not Hoffman personally, but many of those guys. Living in Ann Arbor in the 1960s was a serious experience. ("Are you experienced?" JH)

[Steve E.]

When coming back from our Portugal/Spain trip last March, we had been given a bottle of Sandeman 40 yr Tawny. We normally carry-on during our trips, and had done so from Seattle to Porto (via Frankfurt). However our flights from Lisbon - Sevilla, Granada to Barcelona, and Barcelona to Seattle (via Frankfurt) required checking my wife's bag.

Since it's a carry-on, it's a semi-rigid sided bag. Mine is completely soft-sided, which was the only other option. The bottle is in a wood box, so we stuffed 'soft' items in the box surrounding it, and then more on the outside. The only thing that arrived damaged was the wood lid for the box. It was a little too crammed for the ride home.

...and it was goooooood.

[Scott Anaya]

8 btl wine cruzer for me too. I like it, but it only holds 8 bottles, ya know? So the rest gets packed and padded with clothes in my other luggage....my wife loves it (not ) when i give her several bottles to pack too.

[Steve E.]

I heard a tip about traveling with the expectation of buying fragile items - pack one piece of luggage with nothing but bubble wrap. It goes empty but comes back full - and you've already got the packing materials with you. I've never done it, since I normally try to carry on whenever I can.