Don’t know that one, but I went to this one just north of Gevrey. It’s a wine shop, but they have a huge warehouse and all the packing materials you could want. I assume they do a lot of shipping themselves, not sure if they manage overseas shipping.
ZAA Le Saule, Chemin du Saule, 21220 Brochon, France
I know that some wineries will ship to the US using shipping companies in Burgundy. The cost of the shipping is expensive, but you save the VAT. Which is greater depends on how expensive your wine is. Not worth it with Bourgogne rouge, can be less than the VAT with a grand cru Burgundy.
I have always declared any wine I have brought back to the US with me. With the exception of one time in 1984 where I had to pay about $20 in duty to get about 18 bottles into the US, no customs agent has ever charged me anything.
Howard, out of curiosity, which airports did you fly into?
Not Howard, but he may fly into Dulles, as I do. I’ve brought in 12 - 18 bottles once or twice a year for the past 10 years or more and have never been charged. I have Global Entry and always declare, but they just pass me through. Coming into Philadelphia this past December was a little different because two Customs agent had to consult for a few minutes before deciding the paperwork wasn’t worth the effort.
I was going to suggest the same thing. We bought 6 bottles of 2011 Domaine Jean-Marc Pillot Chassagne-Montrachet 1er Cru Clos St. Jean Rouge there. We paid 37€ ($52 based on exchange at the time). It was right at $12.50 per bottle shipping. $64.50 was still cheaper than the $72.99 I could find on Wine Searcher and I still would have had to ship it from NY to TX. If you know what you are doing, you can get some great deals where you come out way ahead of costs purchased here. In this case it wasn’t planning as much as it was luck.
I have ordered another case from them saving $10-$20 off the per bottle cost of purchasing them here. Plus I found a number of things I couldn’t locate in Texas.
Here is what they sent me in that fall about shipping:
Shipment costs (including shipping, duties and taxes)
If you live in New Jersey: 89 USD (+1% insurance) per case of 12 bottles up delivered to the New Jersey Wine Warehouse. Then, you need to pick it up there.
If you live in New York City: 101 USD (+1% insurance) per case of 12 bottles up delivered to the New York Wine Warehouse in Long Island City, NY 11101. Then, you need to pick it up there.
If you live East Coast: 137 USD (+1% insurance) per case of 12 bottles up. Your wine will be delivered at home. New York Wine Warehouse will contact you when your order will be arrived in order to organize the delivery to your address.
If you live West Coast: 161 USD (+1% insurance) per case of 12 bottles up. Your wine will be delivered at home. New York Wine Warehouse will contact you when your order will be arrived to organize the delivery to your address.
Delivery takes 2 to 6 month after the wine leaving from Beaune to US. As, the container leaves Hillebrand when it is full.
Since the events of September 11th 2001, the customs delays are long. All shipments are consolidated with Wine Market International Inc.
We never send wines in Summer time.
The wine is always shipped in a refrigerated container.
We brought back two full Wine Checks from our trip. Since my wife has status, the cost was free. If you don’t the cost is likely $35. $35 plus cab fare to the airport is probably way cheaper than the $161 (and the wait) to get the wine home. No issues on three different international trips with customs.
I was just in Burgundy a few weeks ago, and I bought wine and had it shipped from Cote D’Or Imports (http://www.cotedorpdx.com). One domaine from which I purchased the wines (Chateau de Chassagne-Montrachet) shipped directly through Cote D’Or. Separately, I joined a wine tour and visited three wineries - the wine tour also used Cote D’Or Imports and consolidated my entire purchase (including the previous purchase from Chateau de Chassagne-Montrachet), but my impression was that the individual wineries likely could have helped with the shipment (or you could buy all the wines yourself and take them to Cote D’Or for consolidated shipping). I don’t know whether they serve Alsace or Beaujolais.
I would hasten to add a disclaimer that my shipment is leaving France in another couple weeks and will not arrive until the end of June, so I cannot speak to first hand experience with the receipt of the package. However, I found out about these guys from researching either this board or WS (forgotten which one), so others have used them as well. And so far the communication has been pretty good.
Shipping for 6 bottles was ~150 Euros, while shipping for 18 bottles was ~340 Euros. The cost for 12 bottles was somewhere in between - as you can see, you get a little scale as the # of bottles increases.
One quick thing to add - as you may know, if you have the wineries ship your wine directly, they will deduct the VAT at the point of purchase. If you take the bottles in hand and either take them back with you in luggage or take them to a shipping center yourself, you’ll end up paying VAT and will have to fill out paperwork to get it credited later.
I actually ended up using Côte d’Or. My hotel in Gevrey had a relationship with them so I was able to just leave all my wine with the hotel, fill out some papers and it is all set to be shipped later this week. It was a little pricey but honestly it would have been a huge PITA to lug 2 cases of wine to Paris and then have to get it to the airport and then home. I’m overpaying for convenience and peace of mind I guess but I guess when you are already dropping a ton of dough on vacation anyway, what’s another €300? Lol.
So ~25 euros per bottle by the case? Ouch!
Thanks, both of you, for the follow up report. I was curious to know how this turned out.
My thoughts exactly…seems a little rich , but yes if compared to the expense of the trip in total…so at 25 Euros a bottle is it cheaper to wine check or about the same?
Or is it just cheaper to buy it at home?
Adding a complication: I am a U.S. citizen, but will be returning via Montreal, then driving. Does anybody know Canada’s laws? Will they apply to U.S. citizens? I am thinking about bringing back a case of Burgundy that has a real price advantage when bought in France.
I’ll just buy a one-time shipper there and let Air Canada handle it.
That won’t work out for you. I once declared a couple of bottles of Scotch when I flew into Vancouver and drove an hour south home. I’m a US citizen, but they charged some outrageous amount at airport customs. Adding insult to injury, I had to wait in a long line for the privilege to pay them.
Good luck,
Warren
As Warren said, if you disembark in Canada, you’re screwed. If you were just changing planes, it would work. But you’ll be entering the country and Canada Customs cares about collecting duties, unlike US Customs.
I found out this summer when I was in Burgundy that just about every winery, etc., that will ship wines for you to the US uses Côte d’Or imports, including the Caveau in Chassagne, Drouhin, etc. The price goes down the more you ship, so set up an account and they will aggregate. If the winery or whatever has an account with them, let them send the wine over and you don’t have to pay the VAT. Take the wine yourself and drive it over to Cotes d’Or and you cannot get the VAT taken off. Works great.
A friend who had just got married brought six cases back from his honeymoon in hand luggage (different era)
That is when his wife told me she began to have serious doubts. They divorced a year later. I am pretty sure shipping the wine is lot cheaper than divorce.
Only brought 3 cases on our honeymoon in 1983. BUT…did bring on 13 cases as luggage in 1990…with wife, 3 year old and mother in law, too. Indeed a different era (People Express?) Still amazed that the car fit everyone.
Almost had the same effect, but, luckily, we’ve worked things out. For some reason, though, she feels like a co-owner.
Any additional info on Champagne or Alsace?
Wine Check would work, but it sounds like a deal killer in that I would have to pay to check 3 empty ones to France and 3 on the way back. Now if they sell them over there that could really work for me.
We are taking TGV directly from Alsace to CDG (staying the night at a hotel there) so the info on the porter is very interesting. I’ve never used one before. They load our luggage? How do I pay them and where do I find them?
bump for this thread.
Since the thread is a handful of years old, any recent experiences ? suggestions? Ill be in Bourgogne in 3 weeks and would like to weigh my options in bringing/shipping as much wine as i can acquire. Cheers in advance
It cost 150 Euro to ship a case from Italy in early March (coordinated through small winery). I’m sure it wasn’t the most protected shipping method, but I’d imagine it would be a lot more risky to ship during the middle of the summer. If I were you, I’d take what I can home directly and talk to shop/winery folks to see if there is a way to remotely order things when the weather cools way down.