Jesse Scheckner
Florida’s latest legislative attempt at uncorking limits on wine bottle sizes is barreling toward a Senate floor vote after finishing its last committee hearing with full-bodied support.
The Senate Rules Committee voted unanimously to oak-kay a bill (SB 1134) to amend a state statute banning the commercial sales of wine in bottles larger than one gallon or reusable 5.16-gallon containers.
First-time violators of the current law, which detractors say is past its drink-by date, face a second-degree misdemeanor punishable by up to 60 days in jail and a $500 fine. Repeat offenders can be charged with a third-degree felony with an up to five-year prison sentence penalty.
Under the proposed new language, it would be legal for restaurants and retailers to sell wine bottles in glass containers of 4.5, 9, 12 and 15 liters. A gallon is about 3.8 liters.
The bill’s sponsor, Panama City Sen. Jay Trumbull, has tried to change Florida’s wine rules for years alongside Lighthouse Point Rep. Chip LaMarca, a fellow Republican.
LaMarca is again carrying a House version of the measure (HB 583), which also awaits a floor vote in that chamber.
Trumbull and LaMarca’s bills differ from past iterations that aimed to fully repeal the current statute, a move that would allow container sizes ranging from split or “Piccolo” bottles of just 187.5 milliliters to “Melchizedek” or “Midas” bottles holding 30 liters — enough to fill 40 standard wine bottles.
Those past measures, which cleared the House in 2021 and 2022 before their legs ran out in the Senate, would have also deleted a provision requiring retailers and restaurants selling wine for offsite consumption to do so in its original, unopened container.
As it did when it passed through the Senate Regulated Industries Committee by a 6-0 vote Feb. 5, SB 1134 received favorable nods from representatives of the Florida Justice Institute, Florida Independent Spirit Association and ABC Fine Wine & Spirits.
3 comments
Jacob Gaskins
February 14, 2024 at 2:36 pm
So let me get this straight. We’re going to cap THC and ban Delta 8 products but we want to let people take home bottles of hooch that are 4x larger than we allow now?
What kind of idiots are running this state?
RVH
February 14, 2024 at 4:45 pm
The same ones that got elected.
chasing shine with wine
February 15, 2024 at 8:31 am
apparently the Florida “Justice Institute” missed the injustice of relaxing restrictions on wine while tightening restrictions on ganja. Oops. Why our government is preoccupied with how we get buzzed instead of dealing with real problems faced by the people escapes my understanding- perhaps it’s because our elected representatives are busy partying while we try to eek out an honest living?
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