Family Traveler

Happy to comment....two important considerations - protecting the wine from getting too hot in transit and keeping the bottles safe from breakage.

--Breakage - some people wrap bottles in clothes in their suitcase but I would STRONGLY advise against it so you either need a separate box/container to check the bottles in or something sufficiently enclosed/padded that goes inside your suitcase. I use the following (here are two links which I hope work) and they are built to last for many, many years:

http://www.travelonbags.com/pages/XXXXX/4000/4018.html

http://www.overstock.com/Luggage-Bag...6/product.html

I happen to really like these as they not only are padded but also have very thick ziplock bags (triple sealed) to prevent leaking - another big plus is that they are pretty nice as wine bags to bring to a restaurant or someone's house (I don't use the strap but the handles are good and the bag looks nice) and so use isn't limited to travel - obviously you have to already be checking luggage and they are quite big once filled so to bring more than one you need a couple suitcases or a large one - I brought three (with 7 bottles on our trip - added over 30lbs to our luggage) - be careful about the weight as bottles + bags add up quickly toward the 50lbs limit - we were checking two suitcases for the family and I managed to get both to about 48lbs. I could have used a shipper box but figured between the fees for the extra checked bag and the greater likelihood of it getting damaged/stolen as a separate box, it worked well. In case it is hard to tell from the pics, you first put each bottle into its own ziplock bag, then into its own inner padded pouch and then two inner pouches into the one outer larger bag.

However, if your suitcaes isn't large enough or you want to take more bottles than say 2-6, you can use a regular styrofoam wine shipper box (can get them at wine stores) which are used by stores/wineries to ship across the country - I have never had trouble using styro-shippers but I have heard stories about issues after rough baggage handling. Though, for better protection you can buy a hard case (like people use for medical equipment, camera equipment, etc. - http://www.winecruzer.com/ Have to watch the 50lbs weight limit as 9-10 bottles plus container/box can get you close depending on how heavy the bottles are.

--Heat, particularly when going to hot regions can be disaster for wine, so however you transport it, I recommend cooling it in the fridge before hand (even if you keep it in a cool basement or cellar) to buy you some extra time - I chilled my wine before hand and after 7hrs of traveling between house and hotel room, it still felt cool to the touch even though it was pretty hot in PR

Some airlines can give you a bit of trouble and require that the bottles are adequately protected and whatever they are in is surrounded by plastic (so if they break your bag won't leak and damage other baggage next to it) - so if I am using a shipper box, I'll often put the styro insert inside of a large garbage bag. However, in all the trips with wine I've taken, I've never had issues with the airlines or TSA whether using styro boxes or these travel bags inside my luggage (though you will want to tape the boxes very, very well as they do get banged around).....though I certainly hope we can return to the days of being able to carry bottles on the plane....