We are about to move to France and have quite a bit of French wine in England. The import of wine by visitors is very limited but, since this wine is French, are we still bound by the limit of four bottles of still wine?
Surely, if you are moving to France you will be an Immigrant and not a Visitor… thus the wine can be packed and transported with all your other goods and chattels…
What advice is there from your Removals company?
We aren’t going to be able to move for about six months. But anyway, alcohol is forbidden in removals.
Declare it all to the Douanes, they will take pity on you for spending all that money in the uk, when it is half the price in France, and give you the customs dues/taxes back🤣
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If you are not moving for 6 months… you have time to enjoy/dispose of some of the wine…
Whatever is left, you can bring over in 6 months time (presuming you aren’t flying)… on the day you actually are moving to France permanently…
Hopefully, as Mark suggests, the Douanes will be generous/take pity.
We were in similar position… and still have quite a generous supply of stuff bought in France, taken back to UK and eventually repatriated to France… but that was before Brexit…
Thanks for the replies. The removal company will definitely not take the alcohol so it has to go in our car. I was hoping to split the load (more than we can drink in six months!) and take some with us when (if!) we next go. Four bottles is a bit of a limitation. Shouled we just go and try it?
I should have said that we already have had a house for two years and pay the usual taxes, but do not have cartes de séjour.
Whether or not you own property here is immaterial.
You will be coming as a Visitor and must abide by the rules at the time.
I’m sure your comment was light-hearted, but it’s really not worth taking the risk…
If you are intending to Emigrate to France, having a conviction for smuggling might not do your cause any good.
Yes, it was light-hearted. We tend to be very law abiding! Hence my original question about how do I get the wine (about 120 bottles) from here to there legally. Is the fact that it was all of French origin relevant?
If you have French bills… you’d be on a winner, I reckon… other than that, it’s difficult to say.
When you come over as a Visitor, why not ask the Douanes on the spot… about how you can legally bring-in your private stock of French-bought wine on the actual Moving Day.
and if they can’t answer at that moment in time…
while you are visiting here… take yourself off to your nearest Douanes and ask them the question …
best of luck
Good idea. Many thanks. We can easily ask them when we get to go in a few (?) weeks time. In the meantime, i have emailed the Douanes centrally and hope to get a reply within a week. Previous questions of this sort about tax, etc., have not always elicited answers, though.
When you ask the douane make sure you emphasise that the wine is for your personal use, and coming in as part of your transfer of your household goods as the costs for commercial shippers are high.
Alcohol is excluded from the exemption for moving house, but you never know they might find this so funny that they give you a free pass!
If the douane don’t answer you then perhaps ask a wine merchant?
But don’t risk it, as alcohol smuggling is considered a reason to impound a car.
Surely you can drink quite a bit of that in 6 months? It’s less than a bottle a day…
Not sure Romanée Conti would go with fried egg on toast……
No reason why not, if you like it - I had some excellent Margaux with saucisson with my mother and I think people are far too prescriptive about wine. If you want PĂ©trus and chips go for it 
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Certainly don’t go for the red with meat, white with fish school of thought. But wine with greasy food? Not for me….I’ll stick to beer.
What about my Chateau d’Yquem 2004?
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Best with pate de foie, but that is all in France!
Foie gras tout court 
Vin d’Arbois or vin jaune or vin de paille with raclette though… Or baked vacherin or all sorts. And what to drink with anchoïade but a nice Bandol or côtes de Provence… St Emilion grands crus go with confit etc
You need the tannins and residual acidity to stand up to the grease which is for me at least why beer doesn’t cut it.