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Hi all,

After a 3 year absence from HK I will, thankfully, shortly be returning. I have been living in Europe during this time and have built up a reasonable wine collection, around 200 bottles good for drinking through the next 10 years.

Whilst I understand wine doesn't travel real well and HK's climate is not the best for wine, I would like to bring at least a reasonable quantity with me (for my personal enjoyment), say 100 bottles or so.

I have spoken to movers here who advise me I can drop in a few boxes with the furniture and my other belongings but not more than this.

Does anyone have any practical experience of bringing larger quantities of wine for personal use into Hong Kong (ie not for sale / trade)?

Does my residency status make any difference? I am a permanent resident.

Any feedback would be appreciated.

Thanks.

[KnowItAll]

Your residency status is irrelevant.

Would recommend you drop customsenquiry@customs.gov.hk a line ... the official line is usually the worst case scenario.

[kombuchakid]

Our financial secretary has a similar quandry. Whenever he is running low on juice, he has a few cases airfreighted over from his cellars in France. Of course it helps that our Henry is loaded and stumps up the 90% duty without a murmmer.

[MPT]

When I last checked about shipping wine from US to HK, I was told I need a HK import license (basically meaning that I am in the wine business). Otherwise, one can only carry one's legal limit (I think 2 750ml per person?) per entry into HK, even if you have residency.

I think all this fuss mainly due to the high alcohol tax in HK. I think you may need to check into the duty you may be liable for if you ship your wine to yourself (assuming you don't have a HK alcohol import license).

The two good news is that there are plenty of small wine importers in HK -- which means one of them may be able to help you (saving on duty or freight). The other news is there are plenty of places that sell wine fridge, for HK's weather.

Worse case is bring a few bottles with you very time into HK, and try using the "green" instead of "red" duty way out

Good luck with your collection! I still feel the pain in parting with mine.

[Beth Danae]

When we moved from US to HK last year we faced a similar dilema. Had a wine cellar with 100-130 bottles and wasn't sure whether it'd be worth it to bring 'em over. In the end we packed 12-15 bottles inside boxes of household items and all arrived without breaking.

However, despite the fact the bottles were in tact by the time our collection of red's (didn't think it made sense to bring short shelf-life whites) reached us (4-5 weeks later) we were quite dissapointed in their state. All of them tasted like crap and many we'd procured from Napa Valley where we had tasted them, so I knew exactly what each had previously tasted like and they didn't even come close once being exposed to warm weather and whatever else on the way to HK...

I think unless brought over in a climate controlled method don't bother...

I sure do miss the wine selection avail most places outside Asia. I'm partial to particular WA state whites and Calif Red's... But have found a few Australian replacements for the whites...

Good Luck!

[Beth Danae]

And, If you do decide to bring your collection, or begin a new one here assume you may be bringing over a wine fridge as that'd be essential especially in HK. We brought our small one over but it took a bit of electrical work to get it functioning though we don't use it as I've lost the drive with the limited wine selection avail here...

Does seem to be several places here that sell wine fridges too though...