Traveling with wine

[EY]

I am planning a trip to CA where I will visit Napa Valley. I imagine I'll buy at least a few bottles of wine and was planning on taking them on the plane with me. However, I will be traveling with the wine in a car for a day trip and was planning on leaving the wine in the car while I did the tourist thing for the day. Will this harm the wine or am I OK? Any tips on keeping the wine from spoiling are also appreciated.

[Innkeeper]

Hi Ey, and welcome to the Wine Board. We did a CA trip ourselves last December, so here's some advice. Leave wine in your air conditioned hotel room, or in the air conditioned cockpit of the car. When you stop, put it in the trunk when shopping, and back inside when you are ready to go. Ask if you can buy a half or full case shipping container from the first wineries or wine retail outlets you visit. A full case shipper will cost around $12. The styrofoam in the shipper will help control temperatures. Be sure to get some tape for the shipper before you put it on the airplane. If you have excessive luggage with you, bring the shipper to UPS and send it home that way.

[chittychattykathy]

Some of my reps deliver "fine" wines in their cars, and I know that it often spends a day in the car.
Delivery trucks are loaded at five am and some wines not delivered until after five pm. The warehouses in which many wines are stored get fairly hot as well. In short, for one day in a car, don't worry about it!

[winoweenie]

Hi EY and welcome to the board. Just a caveat. You didn't say when you're going to Napa. April? May? July? Seattle weather and the Central Coast in December are O.K. for leaving wine in the car but in July and August I can tell you from experience that in as little as an hour wine can spoil in Napas' 95* days. I wont leave a bottle in my car here for 20 minutes. So use discretion. If the temp is over 80, Take your wine into the shade. WW

[Bucko]

Now, to summarize, wine is tougher than people give it credit for. Short term exposure does not hurt it much, but extremes will kill it.

Use common sense. If it is blazing hot outside, crack your windows, park in the shade, and keep the wine in a styrofoam shipper.... no problemo.

Take the shipper on the plane as carry-on (if a 6-pack), or check it as luggage (if a 12-pack).

Bucko

[This message has been edited by Bucko (edited 04-22-2001).]

[IrishMum]

I just returned from a trip to France, and it was quite comical...trying to get all of my wine home! BUT, it all made it safe and sound...and (so far) tastes marvelous regardless of the car, plane, car, plane again, and taxi!

Honestly, I was just impressed that I got them all here in one piece!

Good luck to you EY, and enjoy your trip!

~IrishMum

[Drew]

Why not purchase one of those cheap styrofoam coolers, $5 give or take, and store the bottles in there while traveling....that should take the worry out of cooking them.

Drew

[mrdutton]

And then line the inside of the styro cooler with a bit of newspaper over top of a couple of those freezer baggies (slushie alcohol in a silver colored baggie type stuff...). That should keep the wine cool through the entire trip.

Works for me, anyhow.....