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FlyWithWine launches suitcases made for wine bottles

06 October 2022 By Jessica Mason

FlyWithWine, a new wine suitcase company from the US, has invented a way for people to safely travel with many bottles of wine.

Speaking to the drinks business at the TFWA World Exhibition & Conference in Cannes and this week, FlyWithWine partner Ryan Neergaard, said: “This is basically a suitcase of wine that can be checked onto an aeroplane. The basis, and one of the fundamentals of the company, was that when people would go to visit a winery it is expensive if they want to take the wine home with them.”

He explained: “For someone that goes to a few different wineries and takes this home, they are basically able to save the value of the cost of the suitcase in one trip.”

The reason the idea is novel as much as it is useful is the multi-use benefits of having a suitcase that is specifically for bottles. Neergaard pointed out that “internationally, for people to come from Japan, China, Europe, Canada, South America – all those people in one single trip will save enough to make the suitcase worth it” and demonstrated how “all the inserts can pop out as well, so it can be used as a normal suitcase. You can put any combination of two, four, six, eight, ten or twelve bottles into it.”

Neergaard highlighted how FlyWithWine was answering a need, not just for oenofiles but for wineries as well as people who wanted to simply protect their rare or giftable bottles from being bumpoed around in an aircraft or on a journey, revealing that sustainability messages were also at the heart of the invention and showcased a range of cases that could also be used to transport glasses as well as pour wine for picnics or while at sporting events to cut down on waste.

He said: “You hear a lot about sustainability nowadays and the wine industry has notoriously been known as one of the largest wasters of carboard and insulated profucts in order to be able to sell. In order to ship something, you need to have styrofoam on the inside and yet this is something you buy once and then use it a million times and it really reduces the carbon imprint from a lot of those materials that are being used on a regular basis.”

The FlyWithWine cases are available in a range of styles and are currently being previewed to retailers, buyers and interested wineries all over the world.

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