The Wine Knows

Ken Robertson, Wine Press Northwest columnist, spent last week in Victoria doing a little, er, field research for us. He said nearly every winery he visited on Vancouver Island was under the impression that Americans could take no more than two bottles of wine back to the United States. This is not true, regardless of what wineries think and U.S. Customs agents at the border try to tell you.

Here's how it works:

-- You may bring one liter of wine back with you from Canada duty free, if it's for personal consumption, you're 21 or older, etc.

-- If you bring back more than one liter (essentially one bottle), you simply need to pay an IRS tax of 21 cents per liter regardless of how much the wine costs. Thus, a liter of hyper-expensive ice wine costs just as much as a bottle of plonk to bring into the United States. You pay this at the border.

-- If you live in Washington, you may also be asked to fill out a form to send some money to the state Liquor Control Board (about $1 per bottle).

Here's what might happen:

-- The U.S. Customs agents might try to tell you that you can bring back only one liter, one bottle or two bottles. This seems to depend on the agent. You should be able to politely tell them that you are aware you can bring back just one liter duty free and that you are happy to go pay the 21-cents-per-liter IRS tax. Sometimes, Customs will collect 23 cents per liter or 25 cents per liter. I can't find anything definitive on the Customs Web site, but I wouldn't argue with the agent. On one occasion, the guy was really bad at math and charged me about 10 times too much. These folks can do whatever they want, so I decided to let it go.

-- It doesn't hurt to have some greenbacks with you. The folks at the border sometimes have a bit of trouble working the credit card machine, and they don't take Canadian currency or personal checks. But we aren't talking much money here: If you bring back a case of wine, that's nine liters. Subtract the one liter you get duty-free, that's eight liters multiplied by 21 cents. That's $1.68 total. You can see why they'll often just wave you through if you have two or three cases.

-- If there's a long line of cars behind you and you have no more than a case or two in the car, you probably will be waved through without needing to pay anything. If you happen to cross back into the United States just before a shift change, the same thing might happen regardless of how much wine you have.

-- If you are bringing in an excessive amount of wine (how much is "excessive" depends on the mood of the border agent), Customs can detain you and require you to provide proof that it is for personal consumption (good luck with that) or have an import license. I've brought back as many as 12 cases and had little more than a raised eyebrow - and as few as six cases and been turned back into Canada (but that's a different story).

-- In the past decade, I have traveled to British Columbia dozens of times and almost always brought back a case or two (or three or four ...) of wine. On all but two occasions, I've had no trouble whatsover - as long as I've told the Customs agents that the wine was for my personal consumption. Many times, agents have tried to get me to admit something otherwise by saying things like, "How could you possibly drink all of this wine?" or "Why do you need to go to Canada to buy wine when we have wine in the United States?" When I say I enjoy drinking wine with meals and British Columbia has a fascinating and emerging wine region, the agents usually shrug their shoulders and wave me on through.

-- On those other two occasions, I got a guy who was interpreting the law a little differently because he knew I was a wine writer. He said that because I get paid to write about wine, I'd need an import license (he reasoned it was a commercial venture, even though my lawyer talked to a guy in the then-ATF office in Seattle - who said that regulation should be applied only to someone planning to resell the wine). The first time, the guy let me through with a strong warning. The second time - two months later - I was turned around and sent back into Canada after being threatened with having my car impounded. I left the wine at a winery and came back through without incident (and I sent a friend up the next weekend to get my wine). So, under no circumstances should you mention to border agents that you know me.

Bottom line: Be polite and honest and you will have little trouble if you purchase three or four cases of wine on your next trip to British Columbia.