Why did my parents have problems shipping wine from California to Wisconsin?
They bought wine in Cali; but they originated their travel in Vegas. What is the best way for them to get the wine to Wisconsin? Since they are flying, they wanted to ship it.
Filed under: All Things Wine
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Some states do not allow alcohol to be shipped. Box it up carefully and don’t tell fedex what’s inside.
When you ship alcohol over state lines you have to be careful that it is packed well and marked very discreetly. There are some states and many counties that are "dry" which means alcohol cannot legally pass through them, even if the source and destination are completely legal.
Currently, thirteen states offer "reciprocal" status - you can ship between these states without any trouble. These are: California, Colorado, Idaho, Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota, Missouri, New Mexico, Oregon, Washington, West Virginia, and Wisconsin. This at least means that west-coast residents can share their wines with little difficulty. This also means that shipping the wine to/from these states should be very easy.
Alcohol is taxed by the state, not the feds. So when you take wine from one state to another, the destination state feels jilted on their pound of flesh.
I usually fly with my purchases, and have never had a problem on a domestic flight with alcohol. It is only when you get into international travel that there are problems.
I find that just being polite to the customs official generally does the trick. Oh, wait! There will be no customs official on a domestic flight… Your parents should just check it with their luggage.