Cheers: Legislature finally uncorks wine bottle size limits

I guess we need a bigger liquor cabinet.

Sip, sip, hooray! Bigger Bordeaux bottles are bound for the Sunshine State.

After half a decade of failed attempts, lawmakers have passed legislation to allow much larger wine containers in Florida.

Florida law today prohibits commercial sales of wine bottles larger than one gallon or reusable 5.16-gallon containers. A gallon is about 3.8 liters.

On Tuesday, the Senate approved a bill (HB 583) by Lighthouse Point Republican Rep. Chip LaMarca that will allow restaurants and retailers to sell wine in glass containers of 4.5, 9, 12 and 15 liters.

The 38-1 Senate vote followed a unanimous vote last month in the House.

Panama City Republican Sen. Jay Trumbull noted that LaMarca has worked to uncork limits on wine bottle sizes for the past five Sessions.

“We are now very excited for the final opportunity to free the grapes,” Trumbull said before the vote, borrowing LaMarca’s catchphrase for the issue. He and LaMarca hugged after the bill passed.

The bill will next travel to Gov. Ron DeSantis’ desk. He can choose to sign or ignore the measure, allowing it to become law and go into effect July 1. Or he could veto it to continue penalizing first-time offenders with up to 60-day jail sentences and $500 in fines. Repeat offenders can be charged with a third-degree felony that carries an up to five-year prison sentence as punishment.

The sole “no” vote in the Senate came from Jacksonville Republican Sen. Clay Yarborough, who has consistently maintained throughout the years that broadening booze allowances in Florida is a *pour* proposal.

LaMarca, meanwhile, has argued it “is not good public policy to criminalize the sale of wine based on the container size.”