Moving with wine

[sharding]

I'm packing to move, and I just realized that I haven't given any thought to moving my wine. I have only a couple dozen bottles, and none of them are rare or unusally valuable. But I still would like to get them to the new house intact!

The move is pretty short -- around 20 miles. And I'll be moving this stuff myself in my car (it won't be riding in the back of a truck or tossed around by the guys from the moving company).

Do you have any tips on how to pack and move these bottles safely? Would a wine shop be willing to sell or give me some of their empty shipping boxes? Should I just wrap them all in paper or bubble wrap and put them into a box I already have?

Thanks!

[melkor]

Any wine shop would likely be happy to part with a bunch of empty boxes should you be willing to buy a bottle or two of wine from them. Another good option is just to ask at a grocery store that sells wine. I wouldn't worry about a 20 minute move for a few dozen bottles, you could just wrap them in towels and pack them in a box or three and drive them over.

[sara]

Hi

We recently drove our wine collection--5 boxes or so--all the way from DC to Madison WI. We simply wrapped each bottle in paper towel and put them in a normal wine box. Everything was fine. This is a good time of year to move, temperature-wise too.

[vengroff]

My regular wine shop has a big pile of cardboard and sometimes wood case by the front door for customers to take. I wouldn't hesitate at all to transport wine 20 miles that way. Chances are that's exactly how it came from the winery to wherever you bought it, in several different trucks over distances far greater than 20 miles.

[winesonoma]

I would doubt that any wine is shipped from the winery in special cases ie styrofoam, but a used one of those makes a dandy wine cellar in the motorhome. Wrap them in your clothes and box them. Drink them and start a new cellar.