American wines as a gift for a friend in Europe

[joerolfe]

I would like to ship some American wine - maybe 6 bottles to a case - to a friend in Germany. I've run into all kinds of (silly) rules that prevent me from doing this. Note: I live in the San Francisco Bay Area within 100 miles of the best US wineries.

Joe Rolfe

 

[Buenchico]

Hmm, an American trying to ship wine to Germany. Interesting! Have you ever tasted the top quality 'QmP' Rhine wines? They'll far outclass anything California has to offer any day!

So how do you go about it? Well, whichever route you take, you're going to come up against all sorts of regulations but, since you live in the country which has more trade barriers than any other W.T.O. member, that only seems fair!

I suggest contacting DHL. Yes, I know that there are plenty of other carriers who might be cheaper, but DHL is owned by Deutsche Post World Net so, if any company is going to be the experts when it comes to shipping to Germany, then it ought to be DHL. I also suggest giving DHL's US website a miss. (I've just spent ten minutes browsing it and going round in circles). Start by phoning 1-800-225-5345. Make it extremely clear that you wish to send a package, with pre-paid customs clearance, to Germany. If US call centres operate at the same level as many UK ones, you'll probably be put on hold and/or transferred to other numbers several times but just keep on insisting that you want them to do the work and not you. Eventually, somebody should be able to come up with the information which is so elusive on their website. Good luck!

Chris

[gastwo]

Have you tried UK/European wine sellers web sites? some of them stock excellent Californian wines, and shipping within Europe would not present a problem.

[genthon]

If wine is still the same extortionate price it was in restaurants when I was in California five years ago I'm surprised that anyone can afford to ship it anywhere!!

[MrPahoehoe]

Chris, I'm afriad I can't find a link or evidence but I know for a fact that in a 2003 or 2004 tasting competition, rated by a panel of experts (not sure on what authority, but it had members from most wine making coutries and was considered by all the websites I looked at to be an "official" decision or the worlds best wine) a California red wine was rated higher than all wines from the 'Old World', including France, Italy and Germany.

[Buenchico]

MrPahoehoe: Everyone to their own tastes. I wouldn't even consider either California or Germany for a decent red wine. At the top end of the range (over �25 a bottle) France still produces some fine clarets (although I have to admit that there are problems with consistency). At the bottom end of the price range (�3 - �5 per bottle), I'd probably be looking to South America or Italy.

My reference to German 'QmP' wines referred to young white wines from the Riesling or Gewurtztraminer grapes. Many of these are only produced in fairly small quantities and are therefore difficult to buy ouside of Germany. California relies far too heavily on Chardonnay grapes. These can produce some wonderful wines but more frequently result in 'bog-standard' products.

Chris
(Former wine columnist)