Travel Products - Your thoughts about wine suitecases

When I travel, I like to carry my favorite wine (Pinot Noir) with me. I know I can buy wine at my destination, but I would rather have it with me and don't worry about finding a right wine store near my hotel, etc. I used to carry wine and wrap it in my clothing! Always worried about breakage... So I decided to buy luggage that is perfect fit for my wine. Also, when I visit winery, that comes handy and I can stock up on my favorite wines! I would never go back to my old habit. Does anybody travel with wine suitcase? Would like to hear your thoughts. Thanks!

Not wine suitcases but bottle armor. We regularly travel to Portland OR and bring back different bottle in the luggage that way. We've never had a loss.

Welcome to both to Flyertalk

There's a thread about it here from a few years ago, or advertisement or whatever you want to call it from one of the companies.

I use PVC pipe. I go to Home Depot, bought a 10 or 12 feet, whatever it comes in, plastic drain pipe (The white outside, black inside, it's thinner than regular PVC) for something like $6 for a 10 foot piece. Cut to length for the bottles, and just slide the bottle into the pipe. It works for me.

Though that's not to say the wine suitcases don't work either, they just scream "I'm wine important enough for somebody to ship back from where they were, steal me" at baggage claim, and I figure the money I saved on buying it bought me more wine.

Oh that's interesting, what's wine armor? Sorry if that sounds stupid...

oops I meant bottle armor:)

hmm.. I never had anybody steal my wine from my wine suitcase. I have carried 6-bottles and they were all sealed. I guess I can buy a TSA lock for it next time...
I have heard if you have an open bottle, sometimes airport security folks have helped themselves ....
Also, I like the style of the wine suitcase, looks classy to me... I am sure PVC works, but I like to travel in style

I see what you are saying, something like Bottlewise rollup bags. I have seen these, looks like they are nice. But if you want to visit a winery you may need several of these bags and they take up room in your clothing suitcase. But that's an interesting thought. Thank you.

I have bought a 12 bottle wine suitcase while in California and it has been one of my better purchases. Called the wine check i believe used it around 12 times or so. Figured if it made it through 2 trips it was worth it. Haven't had it broken into but would still lock it to be sure. Just my two cents.

This is great to hear people start using wine suitcases. I will check that out since it holds more than 6 bottles. I use the kind that is very sturdy and once you got one you never need another one unless of course you need to carry more than 6 bottles. Mine is called vin-air Excursion by Travel with Wine. Love it!

oops I meant bottle armor:)

here's an example. i've used them and i think these are quite handy...

http://www.magellans.com/store/Health___Hygiene___Food___DrinkFP136

I have a box that some wine was shipped to me in and just check it if I want to carry wine somewhere. Have never had a problem with anything breaking or being stolen.

go to salvation army. get an old bullet proof samsonite 2 suiter suitcase. get some mache separators from a Burgundy case. put 6 on one side, 5 on the other. put bubble wrap on the ends. another way, if the case is a bit sturdy, just pull one bottle, and throw it into a maxi roller suitcase.

in most cases, 12 bottles exceed 50 lbs.

I have bought a 12 bottle wine suitcase while in California and it has been one of my better purchases. Called the wine check i believe used it around 12 times or so. Figured if it made it through 2 trips it was worth it. Haven't had it broken into but would still lock it to be sure. Just my two cents.

Winecheck.. made by the founder of the website/wine forum wineberserker
http://wineberserkers.com/forum/index.php

it's a forum for wine lovers (which I am a part of)..

http://1saleaday.com/wireless/

For $9.98 including shipping, this looks promising for 2 or 3 bottles. Width of case may be an issue for long bottles.

Even if it turns out to be a mediocre wine transit solution, I'm pretty positive I'll find another few uses for it.

I used wine skins (same idea as bottle armor) until about two months ago... my baggage was lost between Houston and Zurich and when it showed up at my desk the bottle (in this case it was rum) was shattered. If you do use bottle armor/wine skins then I'd definitely recommend also wrapping it in a dry bag (I used this one from REI (http://www.rei.com/product/830881/outdoor-research-double-dry-window-sack-dry-bag) and it held in all the liquid while the wine skin held in the glass shards).

Since then, I bought a wine cruzer. I have the 8-pro model (http://www.winecruzer.com/8-pro-wine-carrier.html), as the name implies it holds 8 bottles of wine held in two layers of a wheeled hard case. I went with 8 to stay under 50 lbs and avoid extra baggage fees when flying in Y between US and Europe.

So are you saying 12-bottle wine suitcase will go over 50 lbs? I guess each bottle of wine would weigh about 3 lbs. So if the wine suitcase is light enough, you may still be okay but cut it close to 50 lbs? I have seen one at http://www.travelwithwine.com/wine_carriers/wc12_icc_12_bottle_wine_carrier.html but it said the wine suitcase itself weighs around 21 lbs?? I guess it will go over 50 lbs after all. How about on international flights? Can you go over 50 lbs?
By the way, thanks for the recommendation on REI product!

I used wine skins (same idea as bottle armor) until about two months ago... my baggage was lost between Houston and Zurich and when it showed up at my desk the bottle (in this case it was rum) was shattered. If you do use bottle armor/wine skins then I'd definitely recommend also wrapping it in a dry bag (I used this one from REI (http://www.rei.com/product/830881/outdoor-research-double-dry-window-sack-dry-bag) and it held in all the liquid while the wine skin held in the glass shards).

Since then, I bought a wine cruzer. I have the 8-pro model (http://www.winecruzer.com/8-pro-wine-carrier.html), as the name implies it holds 8 bottles of wine held in two layers of a wheeled hard case. I went with 8 to stay under 50 lbs and avoid extra baggage fees when flying in Y between US and Europe.

I travel transatlantic with Lufthansa/Swiss and their guidelines are 23 kg (50 lbs) in economy and 32 kg (70 lbs) in business/first. If you know that you'll always fly business (and assume whatever airline you fly has the same allowance) then you're definitely good to go with a full case. If you think you'll mostly fly business, you could still get the 12 bottle model and leave it half-empty when flying economy. I know that I will sometimes be in economy, so sticking with the lower limit was a safe choice and as a bonus it turns out to be quite manageable carrying the 8-bottles by the handle if I'm over cobblestone.

21 lbs empty seems like a lot, but it appears the 12 bottle winecruzer is also around the same weight. Mine (the 8 btl version) is about 13 lbs empty; with it loaded this weekend I was around 40 lbs at checkin.

Great, thanks for the heads up! I wonder how people travel with 12-bottles of wine in a suitcase like that, I guess they end up paying extra fee. Maybe it's worth it, I haven't tried that yet. So far I have only traveled with 6-bottle TravelwithWine case domestically and had no problem with being over 50 lbs. I think it was about 34 lbs. I guess each wine bottle probably weighs around 3 lbs. or so.
I travel transatlantic with Lufthansa/Swiss and their guidelines are 23 kg (50 lbs) in economy and 32 kg (70 lbs) in business/first. If you know that you'll always fly business (and assume whatever airline you fly has the same allowance) then you're definitely good to go with a full case. If you think you'll mostly fly business, you could still get the 12 bottle model and leave it half-empty when flying economy. I know that I will sometimes be in economy, so sticking with the lower limit was a safe choice and as a bonus it turns out to be quite manageable carrying the 8-bottles by the handle if I'm over cobblestone.

21 lbs empty seems like a lot, but it appears the 12 bottle winecruzer is also around the same weight. Mine (the 8 btl version) is about 13 lbs empty; with it loaded this weekend I was around 40 lbs at checkin.

By the way, I usually fly economy:(

Great, thanks for the heads up! I wonder how people travel with 12-bottles of wine in a suitcase like that, I guess they end up paying extra fee. Maybe it's worth it, I haven't tried that yet. So far I have only traveled with 6-bottle TravelwithWine case domestically and had no problem with being over 50 lbs. I think it was about 34 lbs. I guess each wine bottle probably weighs around 3 lbs. or so.

Yeah, I like the idea of placing my favorite wine separate from my clothing. You never know what would happen when/if there is a breakage and all your fine clothes will be ruined... For that reason, I like the idea of wine travel suitcase.
It's probably not worth the extra $300+ for the suitcase itself if you are transporting cheap wine. But for those who spend good money for a bottle of wine, I would think $300+ is worth every penny of it! The fact that you get to use it many many times, it's a great investment.

Yeah, I like the idea of placing my favorite wine separate from my clothing. You never know what would happen when/if there is a breakage and all your fine clothes will be ruined... For that reason, I like the idea of wine travel suitcase.
It's probably not worth the extra $300+ for the suitcase itself if you are transporting cheap wine. But for those who spend good money for a bottle of wine, I would think $300+ is worth every penny of it! The fact that you get to use it many many times, it's a great investment.

The winecheck is $60.. not 300 :)

I've posted this before (for those wondering why I posted it twice in the same thread, they were separate threads months apart and merged into one :) ), but if you go to Home Depot, and pick up a 10 foot length of 4 inch plastic drain pipe. Depending on which one you get, it will either be $6 or $14. Cut it into 12 inch lengths, if you don't have a saw head over to their molding section and use the miter box and saw there.

From one piece of pipe that weighs four pounds, you get protection for ten bottles that is going to be much better than most anything else you buy, and you can use whatever suitcase you want to pack them into.

And unlike some of the other products, it doesn't scream "Look at me I'm a case of wine good enough for somebody to ship me here" at baggage claim.

Yeah, I like the idea of placing my favorite wine separate from my clothing. You never know what would happen when/if there is a breakage and all your fine clothes will be ruined....

Same fear here, I take several bottles of wine to Australia each year & feel pretty secure using my freezer vacuum sealer machine to bag each bottle double sealing both ends. The plastic is pretty thick and should offer decent spillage protection if my case were to experience simian induced g-shock. I also seal cologne & Nyquil just in case. Of course it's no help for bringing stuff back, but it's a lightweight solution for peace of mind taking things abroad.