When I bring a bottle of French wine back to the USA for family and friends, their faces light up with excitement and appreciation. It’s a cherished gift for someone special. But all you need is to have one bottle of red wine explode in your suitcase to never want to try to transport wine on a long-haul flight ever again. So how can you bring wine back from France so it arrives in one piece? Is it even legal? How much wine can I bring back from France? Let’s talk.
Here are my bringing wine from France to US tips!
How to bring wine back from France
Can you bring wine back from France? YES!
Every time I visit the USA, I successfully bring several bottles of wine in my checked luggage. When packed correctly, the wine should make it in one piece. Knock on wood, I’ve never had an issue. If it’s a reasonable number of bottles for personal use, you should have no problem bringing some liquid France back with you.
Why would you want to bring back wine? WHY NOT? Seriously though, it makes a nice gift for someone else or treat for yourself, not to mention it’s way cheaper to bring back French wine than to buy it in the USA.
I was shocked by wine prices last time I visited the U.S. France spoils me (both with the selection and price)!
How much wine can I bring back from France legally?
There’s a lot of confusion about bringing wine back from Europe on a plane, but it’s quite simple.
First, federal law says you have to be at least 21 years of age. How many bottles of wine can I bring back from France? There’s no limit on the number of bottles of wine you can bring into the U.S. for personal use, although anything over the duty-free allowance of one liter (so one bottle) may be subject to a small duty. This is rarely enforced for small quantities.
In my experience, I’ve declared my case of wine on the customs form and I’ve never had to pay a duty on it. Customs rarely bothers to collect the fee because it’s under $1/bottle.
Fodor’s explains, “Travelers can’t transport bottles with more than 70 percent alcohol content and can only take five liters of alcohol between 24 and 70 percent. Fortunately, wine almost always falls below 24 percent alcohol content, meaning there is no limit to the amount of alcohol allowed in checked bags.”
For information on bringing wine into other countries, you can read here.
To be safe, I wouldn’t pack more than four carefully wrapped wine bottles in a full-size suitcase. Anything more than four is pushing your luck in terms of breakage unless you have a special wine suitcase.
I wrote an entire post on that (plus a video) on how to bring wine on a plane the safe way. It’s a fabulous stress-free option if you do a wine tour and have 10 or 12 bottles you want to bring home.
What about shipping wine from France to US addresses?
Forget about shipping wine yourself. It’s illegal to ship wine from France to U.S. addresses in the regular mail unless you have a license to do so. They will turn you away at the French post office if you show up with your carefully packed box of wine to send abroad.
Some wineries and wine stores in places like Saint-Emilion will offer to ship it for you, but you’ll pay a premium for the service.
Depending on your budget, cost of the wine, and the importance of shipping it stateside, it might make sense to have a store ship your favorites for you.
Keep in mind smaller producers may not even offer direct shipping. If you want to bring a few bottles back for personal use, it’s super easy to pack them in your suitcase as I’ve proven to myself time and time again.
Remember that liquids over 3.4 ounces (100 milliliters) aren’t allowed in your carry-on (unless purchased after security) so you’ll have to check your baggage.
Have you seen the way baggage handlers throw your luggage around? This is why careful packing is important and I’ve become an expert at packing wine in my suitcase.
How to pronounce French wines (AUDIO) >>
How to bring wine back from France in your suitcase:
1 – No more than 4 bottles in one large suitcase
If you bring any more than this, you risk breakage and/or going over the baggage weight limit. Be sure to weigh your suitcase before you head to the airport or you might be looking at a hefty oversize baggage fee.
If you plan on bringing more than four bottles back, split it between two suitcases. There’s no way you’ll clear the baggage weight limit and you’re pushing the breakage limits if you pack more than four bottles. Remember, if you’re wondering “how much wine can I bring back from france,” the answer is as much as you can safely transport. Big emphasis on “safely.”
2 – Wrap bottles well and insulate with clothing
Use a product I mention below to protect the wine bottle or just use bubble wrap and an extra layer or two of clothing around each bottle. Do not skimp on insulation. Make each bottle look like a giant projectile and wrap it tight. Cotton t-shirts work well as wrapping material.
Some people pack the bottles in a cardboard box after wrapping them or wrap them after they insulate with a cardboard box. That’s up to you. I’ve done it both ways and as long as #3 below is followed, you’ll be fine. Pack them in the middle and not up against the walls of the suitcase if you can avoid it.
3 – Make sure your suitcase is full so everything is packed in tightly with no space
I can’t stress this point enough when bringing wine back from France in your suitcase. Movement in your suitcase is not your friend. You don’t want anything to shift around, so if there’s even a small pocket of extra space, try to fill it with socks or anything else you have lying around.
You don’t want the bottles to move around in a half-full suitcase when baggage handlers load it on and off the plane. Have you seen them wing bags off the plane from 20 feet in the air? If the bottles can slide around, they will most definitely break, so the key to safely bringing wine back from France in your luggage is making sure the bottles cannot move at all and are tightly packed.
4- Important reminder about connections & wine bought in the Paris airport
If you have a domestic connection once you land in the U.S., keep in mind that your duty-free wine (or other bottled liquids like olive oil) that you brought onboard as a carry on will need to be checked before you continue onto your next flight.
That means if you bought a bottle of wine in the CDG airport and carried it on board as a duty-free item and then have to connect in Atlanta, for example, you’ll need to put that wine in your checked luggage before you do the bag drop. You won’t be allowed to board your next flight with a bottle of liquid from Paris.
Products for bringing wine back from France:
Wine luggage
Depending on the cost of an extra bag or your airline’s baggage allowance, it might make the most sense to get specialized wine luggage. This is especially useful if you make frequent trips and want to transport 12 bottles at a time. Looking for something even fancier? This wine carrier suitcase is easy to maneuver and 100% polycarbonate.
Bubble wrap protectors
If you
‘re not much of a DIY bubble-wrapper, grab a bunch of these Wine Skins before your trip and just slip your bottle inside for easy, protected transport. To be on the safe side, I’d still wrap the bottle in clothing as well on top of the skins.
Jet Bags
Jet Bags are great for transporting not only wine, but other glass containers such as perfume, olive oil and more. They’re reusable, made in the USA, and absorbent, so if something breaks, your clothing stays clean and dry. Another plus? They’re biodegradable.
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What are your best tips for bringing wine back from France?
Pin my bringing wine back from France tips post:
I tried asking U.S. Customs about the duty on more than the 2-bottle-per-person limit, and they didn’t want to deal with the question–it was just, don’t do it. Thanks for this info. Obviously, somebody with a regular-size suitcase isn’t smuggling huge amounts of wine; it would weigh too much.
Our technique, which has held up for 15 years without a single break (knock on wood): use the cardboard wine cartons, which you can get for free at the supermarket, flatten, and wrap around each bottle. Secure with generous stretches of duct tape. No TSA agent has ever opened them up (they must go through the x-ray well). For extra measure, I put the wrapped bottles in ziploc bags.
I’ve never seen those bubble wrap bottles or jet bags over here. I’m flying to France next time and may have to bring a few bottles of Crémant home, now you’ve got me on it! After all my years in the air, I’m not bad at packing fragile objects.
Have been glued to the elections coverage.
I have also found that as long as you are honest with Custons they are typically easy to deal with. On avg I travel to France 4-5x per year. A great solution are individual styrofoam boxes with cutouts to accommodate most standard bottles. Unfortunately that was not enough to prevent leakage of an ’85 Pommard from my last trip to Beaune.
I found this interesting, even though I am not a big wine drinker
My brother runs a booze cruise once or twice a year to France in his car, he loves it
I have flown back to Australia numerous times with wine… once I brought back about twelve bottles. (My bags were humorously overweight, I’m not sure how I got away with it!). I’d definitely agree that packing them tightly so they cannot move or rattle around is key — particularly, there should not be anywhere where two bottles can directly touch — i.e. no bare glass.
Is the rule about not posting wine a new one? I certainly remember (in 2011) that some French post offices sold pre-paid cartons to ship wine overseas. It cost €35/bottle, so made no sense financially, but I had no problems with shipping them to Australia that way.
Hi Gavin, so happy to hear you’ve had good luck with transporting wine in your luggage. 12, wow! That must be a record! As long as the bottles don’t touch, like you said, and are tightly packed, I think they’ll have a safe trip 99% of the time.
Not sure if the rule about not being allowed to ship wine is a new one. I know that unless you have a commercial license and are legally allowed to do so, a person can’t just go into the post office and mail wine. Same in the USA. UPS/FedEx, etc. won’t do it! I know many wine shops and wineries do offer a shipping service and it can be priced pretty fairly if you’re shipping higher end bottles. Sometimes you’re required to ship it to a business and not your personal address depending on the state.
I know people who have taken a risk and said they are shipping “olive oil” within the USA but legally it’s fraud and illegal to do. Not even sure you’d get away with that from France.
I suspect the wine shipping cartons must be a thing of the past — I can’t find it on La Poste’s website. Pity! These were labelled as being for posting wine, I always declared them properly (customs here would no doubt seize and perhaps destroy them otherwise), and I didn’t need a commercial licence. It may have been easier to post to Australia than America in any case: I don’t think there are any restrictions on shipping wine domestically in Australia, providing its not being sold.
I still wonder how I managed to fit 12 bottles into my bag. The airline didn’t comment at all on the international part of my flight (Heathrow to Sydney). They threatened to charge me on the domestic part (Sydney to Adelaide) till I pointed out that I hadn’t been charged in London! These were declared too, of course, but they’ve never charged customs fees — yet. It’s a pain but worth it…
I’ve never seen wine cartons in the post office either but wow that would be really great if they still offered that service!
12 really must be a record! And from what I’ve heard from people and my research, customs fees are rarely imposed in airports for just a few bottles for personal use. More of a hassle than anything. Thanks again for stopping by!
I didn’t realize it was such a small duty for additional bottles of wine. We always thought 2 bottles/person was the maximum.
I’ve used the Jet packs although they don’t last very long. They’re supposed to be reusable but fell apart after just a couple uses. I’ll have to look into the Wine Skins.
Thanks for sharing!
Glad you enjoyed the post, Carol! Yup, it’s a small duty but even with 9 bottles in my suitcases last time, I didn’t pay a dime.
Bonjour,
We were in France last December. I took 10 bottles with us of American wines. On the way back we brought 14 bottles in which one was a magnum size bottle.
Hello! I’m planning a trip to France in 2019, and was wondering if anything has changed and if this is still the best way to bring wine back from France?
Are there duty free shops in the Paris airport that will sell us the wine and deliver a box to the plane without being touched by the tourist. I have used this service when visiting the Caribbean. Thanks!