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The Easiest (and Cheapest) Way to Travel with Wine

This suitcase is perfect for wine lovers and will keep your bottles from breaking.
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There’s only one souvenir to buy in wine country, and in Bordeaux, it’s older vintages and smaller-production wines that can’t be found at your local wine shop. Shipping is pricey (and a chore involving more paperwork than you’d think), so go with a VinGardeValise, $230, a rolling suitcase that’s lined with high-density, temperature-regulating foam which protects bottles during repeated tumbles down the luggage carousel.

Fully packed, it weighs 49 pounds, which is just under the limit for a checked bag on airlines like Air France, Alitalia, British Airways, and KLM. If you're packing just one bottle, the slabs of foam can be removed to accommodate clothes, shoes, and other souvenirs.

Here’s how we’d fill it after a trip to Bordeaux: