I moved 50 gallons last Spring from Upstate NY to the South. Movers moved
all my bottles. I packed the bottles in used wine cases from a local liquor
store. We also moved 4 carboys (that were done with fermentation)by taping
the bung down tight with duck tape and putting them in our 4 x 4. We did
not lose any.

Obviously you don't want any thing to freeze as that would pop your corks
and or crack the bottles.
- Marie
> wrote in message ...
> Hi,
> I'm moving from So. California to Kansas City, MO. I have about 200
> bottles and 10 carboys full and aging. I've already been told that
> the moving company won't touch it. I plan on renting a uhaul and
> taking it myself. First, is this legal? Then, do you have any
> specific packing & transportation suggestions? What about the
> carboys? What about freezing temperature in-route?
>
> Thanks,
> Berry

Hi,
I'm moving from So. California to Kansas City, MO. I have about 200
bottles and 10 carboys full and aging. I've already been told that
the moving company won't touch it. I plan on renting a uhaul and
taking it myself. First, is this legal? Then, do you have any
specific packing & transportation suggestions? What about the
carboys? What about freezing temperature in-route?

Thanks,
Berry

> wrote in message ...
> Hi,
> I'm moving from So. California to Kansas City, MO. I have about 200
> bottles and 10 carboys full and aging. I've already been told that
> the moving company won't touch it. I plan on renting a uhaul and
> taking it myself. First, is this legal?

Transporting fruit juice is legal. How were you to know that it had gone
"bad"? ;^)

Then, do you have any
> specific packing & transportation suggestions?

Pack the bottles in cases for moving. If you can get some, those plastic
lugs are nice for moving carboys. I'd probably put some padding around and
under each carboy - both for shock and temperature protection.

What about the
> carboys? What about freezing temperature in-route?

Get an enclosed U-Haul trailer. You aren't going to be on the road _that_
long that the wine will freeze. A couple or 3 days should be OK. Stack
everything together so that the thermal mass has less surface area exposed
to the ambient cold.

Tom S

Dang! I just found out that the smallest uhaul will be $2800 to go
from LA to KC. Anybody know of anything less?

B.

As I live approx 50 miles South East of K.C. I would suggest that you ship
it ahead of your move so as not to hinder you in anyway straight to my
house. I promise to take real good care of all of it while your
moving....... <G>.....

WHY would anyone move from some that is warm to this place that is
cold/dry/unstable/unpredictable. Guess I have lived here to long as I could
not imagine warm weather year round....................... and leaving
it....

I await your delivery with open arms/mouth/empty glass......... oppsss....

Ben & Linda McCune
HoneyCreek Vineyard/Orchards
http://honeycreek.us



> wrote in message ...
> Hi,
> I'm moving from So. California to Kansas City, MO. I have about 200
> bottles and 10 carboys full and aging. I've already been told that
> the moving company won't touch it. I plan on renting a uhaul and
> taking it myself. First, is this legal? Then, do you have any
> specific packing & transportation suggestions? What about the
> carboys? What about freezing temperature in-route?
>
> Thanks,
> Berry

Might want to look at buying a used "Cargo Trailer", pull it to the
destination, and hang a "For Sale" sign on it. You might even get lucky and
sell for more than you paid.

Fred

> wrote in message ...
> Dang! I just found out that the smallest uhaul will be $2800 to go
> from LA to KC. Anybody know of anything less?
>
> B.

AFIK, moving the wine interstate is legal. My stance is that <200 gallons
and I am safe to do whatever I want.

I recently moved from NY to GA and had to xport all of my wine (carboys,
barrels and bottles) myself.

First, check on a one way enclosed trailer instead of a truck. I got mine
for around $180. Moving the wine was the sole reason I drove a car instead
of flying - a trailer was much cheaper and they would not reimburse for
anything besides mileage. Do not xport open trailer - road debris and
atmospheric conditions just seem like a damn bad idea.

Secondly, for the carboys, I made 12in. by 12in. sectioned-off partitions
that the carboys sat in. Plywood was under them with the packaging materials
composed of air trapped in plastic between the carboy and plywood. It worked
great (even kept the airlocks in) for shock absorption. I bungeed the tops
of the carboys to keep them from hitting walls and one another (the same
pkg. material between the sides of the carboys and the partitions greatly
helped). As Tom S states, keep the thermal mass together for those brief
times they might be exposed to sub freezing temps.

Now, if you cannot drive it out yourself, everything I said here is out the
window. In that case, use one of the other suggestions like taping solid
bungs down (for finished wine) but I've no idea who will move them for you.
Any MO college students in your CA area that are heading home in the summer
who will accept the burden for a fair price?


> wrote in message ...
> Hi,
> I'm moving from So. California to Kansas City, MO. I have about 200
> bottles and 10 carboys full and aging. I've already been told that
> the moving company won't touch it. I plan on renting a uhaul and
> taking it myself. First, is this legal? Then, do you have any
> specific packing & transportation suggestions? What about the
> carboys? What about freezing temperature in-route?
>
> Thanks,
> Berry

> wrote in message ...
> Dang! I just found out that the smallest uhaul will be $2800 to go
> from LA to KC. Anybody know of anything less?

Berry - Check out what it will cost to rent a minivan. My Voyager will hold
ten carboys.

Once you get to K.C. you will need a place to get your winemaking supplies.
Check out Bacchus and Barleycorn. Their phone is 913-962-2501 and web site
is . Jackie and Alberta Rager own B&B and
are friends of mine and are members of the Greater Kansas City
Cellarmasters. Once you get established get in touch with the Cellarmasters
at www.cellarmasters.org or email me. We have a great group of winemakers
from all over the Kansas City area. Some make kit wines, others order
California grapes through Bacchus and Barleycorn and others make wine from
locally grown grapes and fruit. We even have a couple of commercial
winemakers in the club.

Bill Frazier
Olathe, Kansas

Berry,

Did the moving company themselves tell you they wouldn't touch it?
Unless there's a specific issue with interstate moves -- which I doubt
-- then it sounds real fishy. At least for the bottled wine. In my
limited experience, if you are moving your primary residence and these
are your personal belonging then normal taxation/control issues don't
apply. I moved from Oregon to Alberta (different country) and the
Allied movers were fine with transporting my dozen cases of wine
(mostly homemade) as long as I had the proper paperwork from the
Alberta Liquor Control Board showing that I'd paid the applicable
taxes (which weren't much since they valued each bottle at < 2$).
Some of the movers we talked to thought it was impossible for them to
move it to Canada, but generally agreed they would when we explained
to them exactly what needed to be done (nothing on their part -- just
the paperwork stuff for us...)

Our experience with movers is that if they aren't sure about
regulations like that, they usually pretend that they do know and tell
you that it can't be done -- but if you can demonstrate that you've
got them covered then they're willing. And the one we talked to who
still wasn't willing didn't otherwise seem nearly professional anyhow
(and no cheaper) so they weren't going to get our business no matter
what...

Along similar lines, if you're paying for this move out of your own
pocket, and aren't used to dealing with professional movers, then make
sure you get quotes from multiple companies and let them know you're
getting multiple quotes. You'll likely get entirely different quotes
(as much as 50% less) than if you don't. We weren't aware of this
when we moved Vancouver->Portland in 2000 and paid a LOT more than we
did 2 years later to move Portland->Calgary -- which was a lot further
and involved a lot more stuff!

As for what you quoted for the "smallest U-Haul" -- was that a truck
or a trailer? Trailers shouldn't be anywhere near that expensive, if
you have something to tow it with. In 1996 I rented a medium-sized
U-Haul trailer and hitch one one-way from Regina (Saskatchewan) to
Vancouver (about 1000 miles) and my recollection is that it was only a
couple hundred bucks (Canadian) and I had it for a week. Trucks are a
different story though.

Good Luck with the move! As for us, after 6 moves in as many years
covering 4 cities, we're hoping to stay planted where we are for at
least the next couple of decades :-)

Richard

wrote in message >...
> Hi,
> I'm moving from So. California to Kansas City, MO. I have about 200
> bottles and 10 carboys full and aging. I've already been told that
> the moving company won't touch it. I plan on renting a uhaul and
> taking it myself. First, is this legal? Then, do you have any
> specific packing & transportation suggestions? What about the
> carboys? What about freezing temperature in-route?
>
> Thanks,
> Berry

Thanks for all the advice! I am going to work for General Electric in
KC and the relocation counselors said that the movers would not touch
the wine. Maybe the movers will.... So far the pricing that I've
found is: Uhaul $2700, Budget $1400, and Upack, $900 (all for a 10'
truck).

Bill, I look forward to getting to know you one day. It will take a
while to settle in, but one day I will contact the cellarmasters group
and get to know some local winemakers.

Berry

On Sat, 03 Jan 2004 20:56:41 GMT, wrote:
Berry,

Just a suggestion, but go elsewhere to rent it. Rental from KC to LA
is only $850 so it is location and not equipmaent costing so much. San
Diego to KC is $1200 for example. Try going to a smaller town within a
hundred miles or so and you should save $1500 or more. Oceanside is
just 70 miles down the coast but is just over $1100.

From the looks of it, take your road atlas and pick a town just
outside the inset map line. With mine I see a $1300-1700 difference
just by moving across the line on the map.


>Dang! I just found out that the smallest uhaul will be $2800 to go
>from LA to KC. Anybody know of anything less?
>
>B.

I moved wine from Indiana when I moved to Houston about three years
ago. I actually had a project in carboys when I moved. I didn't want
the moving companies to mess with any of it, so I loaded it into a
moving van with my wife and pets and drove it all down here.
Everything in bottles I put in old wine cases and the carboy was in a
cooler(in case the bung came loose). Everything turned out OK, but I
understand your pain. I didn't want cases of finished wine sitting in
uncooled storage until we bought a house.

Chad Harvey

Lazy Hill Wine Log version 3.1 (http://www.chadandtrish.com/winelog)

I am in the military and move every few years. As suggested, old wine boxes
for your bottled wine will be fine. For my carboy wine, the old carboy box
and some padding has worked, but I drive the stuff myself.

Chad, thanks for the program link, I'll try it out.

Dan
"Lazy Hill Wineries" > wrote in message
om...
> I moved wine from Indiana when I moved to Houston about three years
> ago. I actually had a project in carboys when I moved. I didn't want
> the moving companies to mess with any of it, so I loaded it into a
> moving van with my wife and pets and drove it all down here.
> Everything in bottles I put in old wine cases and the carboy was in a
> cooler(in case the bung came loose). Everything turned out OK, but I
> understand your pain. I didn't want cases of finished wine sitting in
> uncooled storage until we bought a house.
>
> Chad Harvey
>
> Lazy Hill Wine Log version 3.1 (http://www.chadandtrish.com/winelog)