FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — Governor Ron DeSantis has signed a bill allowing restaurants and retailers to sell larger wine containers.
Legislators have been trying to pass House Bill 538 for years, and on Thursday, DeSantis signed the bipartisan bill at a news conference at Fort Lauderdale winery, Wine Watch.
Current state law prohibits commercial sales of wine bottles larger than one gallon or reusable 5.16-gallon containers. The penalty for selling an oversized bottle for first-time offenders is up to 60 days in jail and $500 in fines. Repeat offenders face third-degree felony charges with up to five years in prison.
Rep. Chip LaMarca (R-Lighthouse Point) sponsored the bill that will allow wine to be in glass containers of 4.5, 9, 12 and 15 liters. At the conference, he said this was his fifth year trying to get legislators to pass the bill.
"Free the grapes," LaMarca said at a House meeting in 2022.
The bill passed unanimously in the House and the Senate voted 38-1 to pass it. The only Senator who voted against it was Sen. Clay Yarborough, R-Jacksonville, who has voted against this bill and another alcohol-related bill in the past.
“It serves no good policy to criminalize the sale of wine based on the container size,” LaMarca said in a House meeting.
The Florida Governor said this law cuts unnecessary regulations by the state. He said there were loopholes to the original law where consumers could buy oversized bottles online, so there was no reason to have this regulation.
"This seems like common sense," DeSantis said.