Mike Tommasi wrote:
> Hi
>
> anyone have experience with this? Does Fed Ex work, or the US mail? Do
> we get slapped with enormous duties on arrival, or some exotic tax on
> departure?

Mike,
Just to elaborate a bit on what you've already been told: commercial
parcel services are very unwilling to ship wine internationally for
individuals. However, they do permit retailers to ship internationally,
so if you're buying from a retailer you can have them ship it directly.
It is quite expensive, though, since they also must pay customs on it,
so you're far better off taking the excess baggage on the plane if you can.

>
> I wil be in CA in september and I need to ship about 18 zins and 6
> mourvedres back to France. I guess carrying these as baggage on the
> plane will set me back a few $$$ so not a good idea.

Au contraire, it's the best option if it can be mananged. As I've
mentioned before here, I've never been charged duty on wine brought back
into this country, though of course I have no idea if the douane de
France behaves similarly. Two cases is doable IMO, especially following
gerald's plan. On thing I found when we shipped our wine back from CA
is that wineries in CA use smaller 12-bottle shippers (ca. 27 x 38 x 52
cm) than you can find for sale in most retailers. If you need a few of
them, let me know and I'll get in touch with some friends in CA. (Tom S
or Emily [winemonger] might have more immediate supplies handy)

Mark Lipton