Plenty of people travel for wine, but, paradoxically, wine isn\u2019t easy to travel with<\/strong>, especially if you\u2019re taking a plane.<\/p>\n Before you pick up a bottle or two at the out-of-town winery you\u2019re visiting, there are laws to consider, airline policies to familiarize yourself with, and luggage disasters to guard against.<\/p>\n We figured a wine importer would be a good person to turn to for pointers<\/strong>. After all, roaming vineyards and testing vintages across the globe is part of the job description. Sounds like grueling work, huh?<\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n Mika Bulmash is the founder and CEO of\u00a0Wine for the World<\/a><\/strong>, a small import company that focuses on sustainably produced wines from under-appreciated regions such as southern\u00a0Brazil<\/strong>\u00a0and the\u00a0Peloponnese\u00a0in Greece.\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n Bulmash has racked up a lot of miles traveling to those places from New York, where the company is based, and she has learned some stuff along the way.<\/p>\n Lesson 1<\/em>: Wear dark clothes to a tasting in case you spill.<\/p>\n Lesson 2<\/em>: Plan for bottle transport before you leave home.<\/p>\n \u201cIf you do your homework in advance,\u201d she advises, \u201cyou\u2019ll go a long way.\u201d<\/p>\n If you\u2019re traveling internationally, says Bulmash, \u201cyou have to look at what each country that you\u2019re entering and exiting has in terms of laws for the amount of wine you can bring.”<\/p>\n For flights into the United States, the duty-free limit for alcoholic beverages for personal use,\u00a0according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection<\/a>, is\u00a0one liter<\/strong>\u00a0per passenger<\/strong>\u00a0over age 21. A standard wine bottle holds 750 milliliters (mL)\u2014just under the allowance.<\/p>\n \u201cBeyond the duty-free limit,\u201d says Bulmash, \u201cyou can bring in wine\u2014you just have to pay taxes on it.\u201d That means declaring the bottles on your entry form at the airport and standing in an extra line.<\/p>\n The amount of the tax is calculated according to the percentage of alcohol by volume and the wine\u2019s value, so you\u2019ll want to save your receipt at the time of purchase. \u201cThe taxes are generally pretty low,\u201d according to Bulmash. \u201cThe most annoying thing about it is the time you spend at the airport, not the money.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n She also recommends\u00a0checking the airline\u2019s policies<\/strong>\u00a0because they \u201chave their own allowances and guidelines\u201d that may differ from the government\u2019s.<\/p>\n On\u00a0United Airlines<\/a>\u00a0flights, for instance, there are no restrictions on how much wine and beer you can carry in checked luggage (provided the beverages have less than 24% alcohol by volume).\u00a0Air France<\/a>, on the other hand, caps the allowed amount of booze at 5 liters per passenger for all bottles with less than 70% alcoholic volume.<\/p>\n The carrier may be more restrictive than the government, so find the airline’s policy online and plan accordingly.<\/p>\nRed Tape for Reds and Whites<\/h2>\n