San Rafael, Calif. -- Since 2006, when the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) adopted regulations limiting the amount of liquids passengers may carry onto a plane to 3-ounce containers, vacationers visiting tasting rooms--and the wineries that want their business--have been forced to get creative.

Because the option of shipping wine home is subject to state-by-state regulation, and requires that wineries pay governmental fees sometimes in the thousands of dollars, many wineries suggest that vacationing customers check their wine purchases as a piece of luggage, or pack them in their checked bags.

"Presumably, these bottles are larger than 3-ounces," TSA spokesperson Nico Melendez said, "and any liquids that are over the 3 ounces need to be checked."

The regulations that took effect in 2006 have taken a toll on wineries that sell to visiting tourists. BottleWise, a Madison, Wis.-based company that produces bags to keep bottles safe during flights, recently conducted a study concluding that nearly 25% of respondents no longer buy bottles of wine if they have to fly home with them.

Christi Day, spokesperson for Southwest Airlines, said a growing number of airport retailers have started to sell packaging specifically created to protect wine while in flight. But rather than subject their customers to a last-minute airport shopping frenzy, most wineries have packaging on hand for customers who live where shipping wine is not an option.

Paula Hegele, general manager of Tedeschi Vineyards in Kula, Hawaii, said that many visitors tell her their suitcases already are too full to accommodate the bottles of wine they'd like to take home--the winery offers red, white, rosé and sparkling wines, in addition to a raspberry Framboise.

And since the average price of shipping a case back to the mainland is about $60, Hegele said the winery has lost a lot of business since the current carry-on regulations took effect.

"Some states can allow for shipping, but the cost (of permits and licensing is) so huge that we could never make a profit," Hegele said. "Unfortunately, the struggle of getting it home restricts your sales. People are fearful of getting in trouble when they get to the airport. It's a huge factor in deciding whether people will buy your product or not."

Still, Tedeschi Vineyards sends hundreds of nonlocal customers home with cases of wine each year. "We use a Styrofoam shipper," Hegele said of a product the winery buys from the California Glass Co. to ease customers' fears about packing wine bottles. "It works the best for breakage, and it provides temperature control" to keep wines cool in hot weather.

Rodney Johnson, customer service representative at California Glass, said Styrofoam molds are popular with wineries because they come in a variety of sizes and keep temperatures consistent. The company sells an assortment of molds that securely contain anywhere from one to 12 bottles. "You can ship them, and your bottles won't break," Johnson said. "You can ship the wine, store it, get it there in one place."

However, wine customers often are leery of Styrofoam because of its lack of biodegradability, according to Bruce Cappels, owner of the Spirited Shipper in Long Island City, N.Y. Cappels said the number of individual customers looking to buy boxes to ship wine back home forced him to implement a minimum order. Often customers ask him to ship boxes to the hotels where they'll be staying, so they don't have to go through the trouble of packing the empty boxes in their luggage. He noted, though, that the boxes he's had patented are designed to lie flat inside suitcases and pop up to separate and protect wine bottles during travel.

Many of Cappels' customers are online wine retailers such as Super Cellars of Ridgewood, N.J. Like the wine tourism business, the wine-shipping business is seasonal, Cappels said, with sales spiking in the months leading up to the holidays. Though many tourists visit wineries in the summer months, some customers shy away from shipping wine at that time for fear that their orders will be damaged by the seasonal heat, he said.

Bobbie Hendrickson of Vino Amici, which makes a bubble-cushioned and zip-sealed bag called the Wine Mummy, said using a padded carrier to surround wine bottles is key to keeping them intact during flight. She also cautions customers to pack bottles in the center of their suitcases, surrounded by clothing, rather than putting bottles at the edge, where they could be cracked by overzealous baggage handlers.

Marketing manager Mary Bart echoed those sentiments while discussing Bottlewise, a brand of laptop-size bags sold in the tasting rooms of various wineries. One client, a winery in Portugal, recently ordered a shipment of bags embroidered with its logo, another way wineries can help keep their merchandise safe and advertise their product at the same time.

Dorothy Fry, co-owner and manager of Homer, Alaska-based Bear Creek Winery, said she encourages all visitors who stop by her bed-and-breakfast winery establishment to take their purchases home on the plane with them.

"They have wonderful boxes these days that are not only ecologically friendly, the boxes break down when tourists get home, and they can save them and use them for new trips. They're like egg crates. The wine bottles can just lie down," she said.

Fry said she found a system to get customers home with their wines after years of trying to navigate the interstate-delivery system. "The shipping is a logistical nightmare" for small wineries, Fry said, citing the paperwork and fees involved. "My husband and I are making the wine, producing, bottling; we do the gift shop and run a bed-and- breakfast. It's mostly a two-man show, and there's no time to do that other paperwork."

Years ago, Fry said, she ordered packaging from a Napa, Calif.-based company, and though the cost for the boxes totaled just $800, the company charged her $1,500 to ship the order to Homer, located 200 miles south of Anchorage.

"Living in Alaska, it's hard to get things--it's really expensive. There are a lot of people that won't even ship up here," she said. "But we found another source, which is much better."

Today, Bear Creek Winery buys boxes from Alaska's West Coast Paper, a business relationship Fry said she has found infinitely better. Her customers, in turn, are able to regale their friends with stories of Alaska while enjoying crisp, original Bear Creek blends such as blueberry Zinfandel, raspberry Shiraz and a gooseberry Sonoma Chardonnay in the comfort of their own homes--wherever those may be.