If you travel with others do you end up still bringing one wine suitcase or do others also pack some wine? I’m wondering mostly because if we do end up in France I think I’ll want to bring back as much wine as possible from no name chateaus.
If anything, I’d probably get a custom foam for a large Pelican case. I don’t think I’d trust a suitcase-thickness polycarbonate shell to protect wine the way suitcases are flung around. Pelicans are a bit heavier to begin with and made of harder/thicker plastic … kind of have to lift and place instead of fling.
We’ve had the WineCheck for a number of years and it is a good, lower budget option. Never had any issues with it but it’s a little unwieldy and “noisy” when it’s in the car from the bottles and styro. It seems less safe than the suitcase versions because bottles can shake around in the shipper but it’s going to be similar to shipping wines. We’ve used it more than a dozen times without any issues.
My wife got the Wine Enthusiast Vino Voyage for me, which I mentioned earlier. It’s $50 cheaper the Vinguard and seems to be of similar quality:
I’m mostly thinking about how to do the cut outs tho… if I can get a pelican case tall enough to just stand the bottles up.
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Were they domestic flights or a mix of domestic and international? The reviews saying the shell cracks is not confidence inspiring.
Wine Enthusiast previously sold the VinGardeValise but they saw an opportunity to manufacture a similar wine suitcase that could be sold for a lower price point and provide a higher gross margin. The shell of the VinGardeValise is made from PET which is stronger than ABS from which many cases are manufactured. The VinGardeValise has a 10 year limited warranty. The bottles in the VinGardeValise are held securely in the case by a foam top cover which the Vino Voyage seems to lack. For me the trade off of the different shell material and the lack of a top foam cover over the bottles to hold them securely in place is not worth the $50 difference in price. I don’t have any personal experience with the Vino Voyage product but I couldn’t find any information about a warranty if it has one. I do have 7 years experience with several versions of the the VinGardeValise cases and I highly recommend them.
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I have 2 of the wine checks, in 2 diff configs. They are fine, but the Bordeaux sized styro (with the extra 3 bigger bottle insert) is a bit restrictive with wider bottles. But it does get 15 bottles into a piece of luggage.
I’ve since got a VinGardeValise which I love. I will get a second at some point soon, when travel gets more normal.
One other point I’d make that I don’t think has been mentioned is that for the Wine Check - they look a little ‘different’, as in, they are obviously not your normal luggage. What has happened a handful of times is that when customs sees these odd Cordura cubes they get curious. A couple times in Singapore, but have also been asked about them getting into Australia (where they were empty - I bring wine back only). Of course there shouldn’t be any issues if you are above board with any duty declarations if those are required, but it is some extra hassle if you get called out to get a customs check…
YMMV.
I have two VinGardeValise that work really well. Got one from the grand reserve card sign up bonus and picked up a second one when I went over a case while traveling and figured why not buy a second case of mixed wine and pick up more luggage (my wife just laughed at me).
I got it at total wine in Seattle for a reasonable price. They weren’t obvious that they were in stock, but I got lucky when I spotted one on top of the aisle.
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That’s nice.
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I have friends who love Vingarde, and I can understand the attraction.
It’s not very often I need to carry a few cases of wine with me on a flight, so I haven’t invested in a proper wine suitcase. In the past when I’ve travelled to a wine region and I know I’m going to bring home a sizeable quantity of wine, I’ve packed a duffle bag inside my main suitcase, and on my return trip I put my clothes in the duffle bag and the wine in my hardshell suitcase. I use the cardboard 1-2 bottle carriers that the wineries and retail stores provide. I slip a sock over each bottle, put it in the cardboard carrier, line the bottom and sides of the suitcase with a sweatshirt or two, then tightly arrange the cardboard sleeves so there’s no room for them to shift. Finally, I add another layer of clothing over the top before zipping it closed. I believe the last two times I did this, I was able to fit 18 bottles in one suitcase. I’ve never had any breakage.
Actually the stand up pulp is more secure, higher drop test rating, and lasts longer than Styro, which has a tendency to shatter. Also, the stand-up pulp minimizes piston-effect/lateral movement with the middle piece that secures the two major inserts.
I have had several and the best I have found by far is the Casepro. I have traveled all around the world with it and through treacherous terrain at music festivals. I have actually never had a bottle break in any of them however I have had wheels and handles break which is a real pain if you are traveling with a bunch of luggage.
My wine gets checked every single time and they never put the inserts that go around the neck back properly.
How’s the height clearance for tall GG bottles on that? Also, how’s the weight fully loaded re: weight allowances when travelling?
We own 8 wine checks. The oldest (old red model with BIG logo) is around 8 years old +/- and has probably been used over 100 flights. We have one tiny split in a seam on that one (red duct tape works well) - our others are like new except for airline abuse/dirt. We check 4 empty wine checks (with shippers) flying west and 4 filled with samples flying east. They are light and we have never gone over 50 lbs for checked luggage with a full ce of wine in each. . They are a workhorse and for the price a real bargain.
We like them so much we sell them in our Napa tasting room with full styro shipper.
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Rodrigo - why on earth do you think I would know : ) The tallest ones (e.g., Keller) are just a little tight but it works. I have never been charged extra for the weight. The one thing I will add for all of the 12 bottle carriers is that about 50% of the time it gets diverted to the oversize luggage area instead of coming off the belt.
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This is a very good point to keep in mind if you have tight timing on arrival. We’ve often had our large carriers diverted to oversize and they can arrive well after the rest of the luggage from the flight has been delivered. In LHR on our last trip it was an additional 30 minutes wait!
We purchased the 12 bottle VGV when it was half price a year or two ago. Loved it when we went to Willamette in May. I’d love to get another (maybe one of the smaller ones) but the company that sells them now doesn’t seem to have decent sales.
Before Covid, and, I hope soon again, I would travel to our house in France 3 times a year. I used the wine check to bring back a case each time and it was more than worth it. But once I got to the house, I just kept the wine check there. If I were going from place to place and had to constantly get from a train station to a hotel and back, the difficulty of dragging it around would start to make it less worth the hassle. And, as it was, when I turned 68, I decided it was no longer worth the hassle. But, in my case, by going back to France, it meant I could get wines I couldn’t get here over there when I was there. And getting wines I could get over here was just a matter of saving money (sometimes a lot, though) and if I wanted to buy them enough, I could just buy them here. I miss not taking back wines I can’t get here to age here. But that’s not enough to make up the bother. When I was younger, I felt very differently.
To forestall the next question, the house in France has no basement and gets hot in the summer. I considered buying a wine fridge there when I retired, but by that time, I thought, and still think, that the likelihood that I’ll be there long enough to make a fridge pay for itself is unlikely. So I really can’t hold wine there for long. I just drink them too young.
I agree.
One thing I like about the Wine Check too (as a non balla guy who doesn’t get perks like free checked bags, except on Southwest where they’re always free) is that you can pay the bag fee on the outbound trip, then discard the styro box and collapse the soft bag into a suitcase or golf bag for the flight home, save the $50 and also have one fewer thing to schlep through the airport.
Or if you’re making a trip to wine country, then you can do the reverse of that.
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