Bring wine home from a trip despite that pesky 3-ounce rule

Posted by Dana McMahan on March 24, 2008

In the old days, before liquids on planes were limited to toiletries in baggies, my husband and I used to load up our carry-on suitcase with bottles of wine to bring home. We're not wine collectors and certainly know very little about wine, but stocking our bar with special bottles from our travels was fun. And wine in France and Italy is so cheap! (Albeit much cheaper before the euro roared up past $1.50.)

We made the mistake once of packing wine in checked luggage. Two out of three bottles broke -- a white and a red, leaving our belongings heavily perfumed and stained. So we'd resigned ourselves to no more European wines carried home.

Until I spied the boxes in Monoprix last week that is! Monoprix is a chain of department/grocery stores in France and they stock a pretty good selection of wines. My friend and I were delighted by the little 25 centiliter boxes of table wine sold in 3-packs for €1.99. Even at the horrid exchange rate that works out to a dollar a glass of perfectly decent wine. They looked like little juice boxes, only missing a straw and a punch-hole. They would be just perfect for a picnic.

Then it dawned on me that I could pack a bigger box in my checked bag. Unless security literally stuck a knife in my bag, the sturdy 3-liter box of bagged wine would be safe. Luckily for me, I don't sneer at boxed wine. Increasingly popular, wine in a box has definitely moved beyond Franzia days, and we regularly buy Black Box and Trove for our table wine at home. So I chose a €10.99 Côtes du Rhône, a great all-occasion light to medium fruity red wine (great with brie), cleared some space out of my suitcase and nestled it in among some laundry. 4500 mile later I was home without a drop spilled.

I also brought the one little leftover tiny box of white. It's sitting in my fridge for the primary purpose of making me smile every time I open the door. The boxed red is quite nice and we've enjoyed it every day since I got home late last week. I only wish I'd had space for two.

TAGS: Wine
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Bring wine home from a trip despite that pesky 3-ounce rule

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