Diners Can Take Home Wine, but Only in a Special Doggie Bag

[friedo]

So says the New York Times.

The food is cold, the conversation is petering out, and the half-full bottle of Chianti Classico is sitting on the restaurant table like an admonition against overindulgence. It is nearly impossible to finish it. It is also illegal, in New York, to take it home.

Or, at least, it used to be illegal. Lawmakers in Albany may not be able to pass a state budget on time, but they recently dispatched this particular oenophilic dilemma with an amendment to the state liquor law that, for the first time, legalized taking leftover wine home from a restaurant.

The article goes on to describe the typically ridiculous plethora of bureaucratic absurdity to which the restaurants must conform in order to be in compliance with this law.

I find this totally baffling, since I can recall numerous occasions on which a restauranteer has happily corked and shoved in a shopping bag an unfinished bottle which I then brought home.

Have I been committing some heinous crime these many years? Is this one of those laws that was simply never enforced? The article makes it sounds like this law is some sort of Amazing Wine Revolution of New York.

So what’sa deal?

[RealityChuck]

1. It wasn’t enforced.
2. Taking the wine home would have been a violation of the New York open container law*. It was the patron, not the restaurant, who would have been arrested.
3. Restaurants didn’t mind the law – they could use the leftover wine for cooking.

However, restaurants began to realize that if patrons can take the bottle home, they’d order more wine. So they lobbied for a change. The law allows them to put a special seal on the bottle (a special type of packaging tape that indicates the bottle is legal, IIRC) that would allow the bottle to be considered unopened for purposes of the open container law. Any extra cost for the tape will be paid for by an extra bottle of wine or two sold. Restaurants are more than happy to go along, since wine is a big moneymaker for them.

*It’s illegal to have an open bottle or can of alcoholic beverages in a car.

[MartinL]

@RealityChuck

It’s illegal to have an open bottle or can of alcoholic beverages in a car.

I, a European, have heard of that before. Would you mind clarifying that a bit more for me?

• The bottle is not open, it is corked. Where is the problem?
• If I do not use a car, but walk, ride a bike, a horse, whatever, will that be ok?
• Is it ok to transport the bottle on top of the car rather than in it? What about a trailer?

[Ike_Witt]

@MartinL

• The bottle is not open, it is corked. Where is the problem?

No, the bottle has been re-corked. Having a bottle of vodka that is half empty sitting on the front seat is going to draw the attention of a policeman even if the top is screwed back on. Same is true with the wine, if you were so disposed you could sneak a drink and put the cork back, just what the law is trying to prevent.

[Tastes_of_Chocolate]

@MartinL

I, a European, have heard of that before. Would you mind clarifying that a bit more for me?

• The bottle is not open, it is corked. Where is the problem?
• If I do not use a car, but walk, ride a bike, a horse, whatever, will that be ok?
• Is it ok to transport the bottle on top of the car rather than in it? What about a trailer?

Here is a summary of the Minnesota law -

Open Bottle. State law prohibits the operation of a motor vehicle with any open container which holds alcohol, e.g., a partial bottle or can of beer, a closed bottle of liquor on which the seal has been broken or any mixed drink in a glass. Any open container of alcohol must be carried in the trunk of the vehicle. This law is a “strict liability” statute. A person may be guilty even if he/she did not know it was there and each person in the vehicle may be charged with the violation, which is a misdemeanor (Minnesota Statute 169.122).

If your vehicle does not have a trunk, it is legal to carry an open bottle in area of the vehicle not occupied by the driver and passengers

[Acsenray]

In many states, I believe, the open container law applies to pedestrians as well, but I could be wrong.

[Acsenray]

Ah, yes, Ohio Rev. Code Section 4301.62(B):

No person shall have in the person’s possession an opened container of beer or intoxicating liquor in any of the following circumstances:

(1) In a state liquor store;
(2) Except as provided in division © of this section, on the premises of the holder of any permit issued by the division of liquor control;
(3) In any other public place;
(4) Except as provided in division (D) of this section, while operating or being a passenger in or on a motor vehicle on any street, highway, or other public or private property open to the public for purposes of vehicular travel or parking;
(5) Except as provided in division (D) of this section, while being in or on a stationary motor vehicle on any street, highway, or other public or private property open to the public for purposes of vehicular travel or parking.

[Tastes_of_Chocolate]

@MartinL

The bottle is not open, it is corked. Where is the problem?

Just to clear up 1 more little bit here. In the US, open bottle refers to a bottle that HAS BEEN opened, not a bottle that is open. So if you open a bottle of wine and recork it, or open a bottle of whiskey, and reseal it, they are still considered open bottles.

[Acsenray]

@MartinL

I, a European, have heard of that before. Would you mind clarifying that a bit more for me?

To answer your questions more specifically –

Again, the usual American boilerplate – every state has its own laws, but speaking with regard to the Ohio law I cited above –

• The bottle is not open, it is corked. Where is the problem?

The problem is that the bottle’s seal has been broken. At any time, you can pull the cork and take a swig.

• If I do not use a car, but walk, ride a bike, a horse, whatever, will that be ok?

As noted in the Ohio statute, above, it is illegal to have an open container in any public place. You can drink in your residence (or in anyone’s residence) or at a place licensed to serve alcohol. But you can’t walk around in public with an open container. (Note that often such laws are inconsistently enforced, although the trend is to crack down on college areas where historically public drinking is common.)

• Is it ok to transport the bottle on top of the car rather than in it? What about a trailer?

Again, it depends on the law. According to the text of the Ohio statute it seems to me that you can’t have an open container in any part of the vehicle. There are no exceptions for trunks or trailers.

A “trailer” that is a residence rather than a vehicle wouldn’t be covered, I should think.

[Ferret_Herder]

Link to (sorry) a PDF document from the US National Transportation Safety Administration. It says that the law only need cover the passenger compartment and any unlocked glove compartment or other areas that can be accessed by passengers. I suppose individual state laws may be more strict in some cases.