Are you a wine lover who enjoys bringing back a souvenir or two? Or a business traveler who likes to bring back a gift for a spouse, partner, or colleague? There are a number of wine travel bags on the market to help you transport that special gift. Wine bottle travel protectors increase the likelihood that the wine bottle you place in checked luggage will make it home safely and not spill all over the contents of your luggage.
Wine Bags for Travel
Most wine bottle bags are designed to protect wine bottles placed inside checked luggage. These wine bottle protector sleeves are great for when you want to transport one or two bottles of wine in your luggage.
Wine bags keep wine bottles (and other bottles like craft beer bombers, artisanal vinegar, olive oils, and perfumes) from breaking during rough luggage handling by providing some padding/protection for the wine bottle. They also help protect your packed items and the bottle’s label.
We have reviewed several wine travel bags, including our favorite, the JetBag:
Before we continue with our review, a little about the KnowWines blog. We are an Amazon.com affiliate and we do receive a small commission if you purchase items through our affiliate links at no cost to you. The commissions we receive help us pay for web hosting fees, products to test, and other costs associated with running this site. Thanks for using our affiliate links and supporting our independent blog!
Purpose of Single Bottle Wine Bags
Most wine sleeves are purchased for the following purposes:
Protecting wine bottles from breaking during air, cruise, and car travel
Protecting wine labels from getting scuffed or marked up in a suitcase
Protecting other packed items from stains in case the wine bottle does break or the bottle closure (e.g. cork or screw-cap) is compromised while flying
Single bottle wine bags don’t take up much space and are a great item to slip in the suitcase when traveling to a wine region. Wine sleeves take up much less space in a checked bag when compared to a wooden bottle box coming from a winery.
Most travel wine bottle protectors are not very decorative. If you’re looking for a more decorative and re-usable bag for gifting wine, check out our blog on re-usable wine gift bags.
It is possible to ship wine in a bottle bag. However, we would recommend using a single bottle shipping container like this one, which provides a little more structure than a wine bottle sleeve designed for air travel.
How to Select Wine Sleeves
When it comes down to it, there are two types of wine sleeves on the market: reusable or single-use wine sleeves.
How do I discern between a single-use or reusable wine bottle bag? Single-use bags will have adhesive strips that enclose the wine bottle in the bag. Reusable wine bottle bags will have plastic or Velcro sealing mechanisms.
Almost all the wine bottle protectors we’ve used are constructed of plastic. At the end of the day, disposable wine bottle protectors will cost the least. We have a strong preference for reusable wine sleeves so as to reduce landfill waste.
Types of Wine Travel Bags
We’ve been using wine travel bags for over ten years, and we’ve experienced all different bag types, including the ones reviewed here. Here are a few types of bags on the market:
Jet Bags - Absorbing Wine Sleeves
Our favorite wine bottle protector has several stand-out features. First, the bag has diaper-like material inside which provides both padding and absorption in case the enclosed bottle leaks or breaks during travel. Secondly, the bag stands up when a wine bottle is inserted in the bag. Third, the bag has a handle whereas many other wine bags do not. Recently, JetBag has come out with an assortment of bags in addition to its flagship original.
Pros:
Sandwich-bag type closure is easy to open and close, even with one hand
Absorptive “diaper” material in case of breakage
Made in the USA
Available in attractive designs
Cons:
With repeated use over the years, the plastic seams may separate (though any slit on the side of the bag can be fixed using packing tape).
Extreme temperatures can compromise the bags
Inflatable Wine Bottle Protectors
Perhaps you prefer to have inflatable options for wine bottles, especially if your checked bag won’t be completely full. The generous size of an inflated wine bottle protector will help reduce the likelihood that a bottle will break as the bottle is suspended in a “pillow.”
Inflatable wine bottle protectors come with a small hand-held syringe that inflates the protector. While the wine bag is reusable, it does not deflate for storage. The bags hold air for months after inflating.
Pros:
Lightest weight wine bottle protectors
Less plastic than most other wine bottle protectors
Greatest cushioning to protect the bottle from impact
Cons:
They don’t “deflate” - once inflated they take up much more space than other wine bottle protectors
Requires bringing along air syringe when you travel, to inflate the wine bags. If you forget the syringe at home, you can’t inflate the bag.
No liquid containment should the cork come out or the bottle break
Wine Wings Reusable Clear Wine Sleeves with Bubble Padding
If your cruise line or airline requires transparent bags, the Wine Wing reusable wine sleeves may be for you. The exterior of these bags is the thickest of all the other bags reviewed. These bags were designed by an Australian pilot for his wine-loving wife.
Pros:
Inner cushioning is attached to the thick plastic exterior layer, meaning that the bubble wrap won’t bunch up to the top of the bag when inserting a wine bottle
Transparent bag, which may be recommended or required for some cruise or airlines
Heavy-duty Velcro closure - easy to close
Cons:
No absorptive layer
FlyingTrav Discreet Wine Sleeves
While we’ve experienced very little theft from checked luggage over the years, there may be circumstances in which a little discretion comes in handy. Perhaps that special bottle is a well-recognized luxury brand and you want to be discreet. Or you’ve purchased a bottle of wine and don’t want that special someone to see the bottle while you unpack.
Pros:
Solid white, cannot see into the bag from the outside - offers protection from prying eyes and sunlight
Pliable and attractive exterior protective layer - no rough edges
Two layers of bubble wrap (most wine bags utilizing bubble wrap have only one layer)
Cons:
Bubble wrap not attached to exterior protective layer - bubble wrap may bunch up. Simply hold the bubble wrap with one hand while inserting the bottle with the other to prevent bubble wrap bunching
WineSkin Single-Use Wine Sleeves
WineSkin wine travel bags were the original wine sleeves. These wine sleeves are commonly found at wineries and airport shops that cater to air travelers. We’ve also seen them in some wine bottle shops. While we prefer to purchase re-usable wine bottle bags, we have used them before and have been pleased with their performance.
Pros:
Lightweight
Tough vinyl exterior
Good seal
Cons:
Not re-usable (designed for single use)
The double-adhesive seal can be a little tricky to manipulate for people with clumsy thumbs (which may be a result of a long wine tasting session)
Alternatives to Plastic Wine Sleeves
Prefer non-plastic options to wine sleeves? In over 20 years of traveling with wine we’ve yet to have a wine bottle break. Ultimately, the secret to not having a bottle break is having a fully packed bag so that the bottle is not banging around inside a suitcase during transport. When we’ve forgotten to add a wine travel bag to our planned checked bag, we’ve used hiking socks to protect the bottle and label during transport. Socks like this Made In USA variety will serve the purpose well. Simply place the wine bottle into one sock and then place the second sock over the top of the bottle.
Wine Bottle Bag Conclusion
If you are a frequent air traveler or are looking forward to a trip to wine country, we really recommend investing in a few single wine bottle sleeves to protect the two or three special bottles you want to bring home with you, as well as the wine’s label and your packed clothes!
In almost 20 years of wine travel, both domestically and internationally, we know that one can never be certain that the wine point of sale will have wine travel bags available, so we suggest that you keep one or two inside your checked luggage bag just in case. Our favorite is still the reusable Jet Bag.
Happy travels and cheers, from KnowWines!