Most travelers to Mexico know there are restrictions on bringing alcohol into the country. You are allowed to bring three liters of alcohol or beer (approximately three quarts) duty-free, and an additional two liters if you pay the duty on them.
However, wine is a different story.
According to Mexican law, Las Reglas Generales de Comercio Exterior para 2018: Rule 3.2.3(X) – Persons 18 years of age and older can bring up to six liters of wine into Mexico duty-free.
Breaking that down, it means each person 18 and older can bring eight bottles of wine, or two four-bottle boxes like Black Box, or one five-liter box like Franzia plus another bottle with 250 milliliters to spare. I know! Some of you don’t believe those boxes contain real wine; but they do have the low-carbon footprint advantage, and they are from California, albeit Fresno and Modesto!
With Sam’s Club and other retailers offering most all types of hard liquor, it is as affordable to buy alcohol here as it is to buy it in the States and bring it with you. If you like rum and tequila, which are made in Mexico, it’s super affordable.
However, finding the wines you love from the States is generally not possible down here. And, taste-testing every wine in Sam’s or Super Ley from Chile, Argentina, France, Spain and Mexico is a task which is probably beyond even dyed-in-the-wool wineauxs (that’s French for people who drink wine from a stemmed glass).
So, “salud” fellow wine lovers. Here’s to knowing Mexico laws, and to a bottle of great California zinfandel!
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Cutline:
Mexico law allows each person 18 and older to bring eight 750 ml bottles of wine into the country duty-free.
