Concerned that it might extend re-corking privileges in an uncertain manner, Gov. Charlie Baker recommended a technical change Friday to a bill that would let people have a last glass at home.
The governor supports the overall thrust of the bill, according to his spokesman, William Pitman.
Patrons at restaurants, hotels and retirement communities are now allowed to re-cork and bring home bottles of wine that they don’t finish. Deeming it a safety measure that removes one of the incentives for polishing off the rest of a bottle at the table, the Legislature sought to extend that ability to taverns, clubs and war veterans’ organizations.
“As enacted, however, this bill inadvertently includes language that makes less certain which entities are granted the authorization to send patrons home with their partially consumed, resealed bottles of wine,” the governor wrote in a message to the Legislature on Friday.
The original cork and carry law, which has been in effect for about a decade, has not been problematic, according to an official at the North End Waterfront Residents Association – representing a neighborhood with a large number of restaurants and wine lists.
“From my perspective the law has worked out fine, since I had completely forgotten that it had gone into effect. I can therefore say that, so far as I am aware, there have been no negative community impacts,” Victor Brogna, the chair of the association’s Zoning, Licensing & Construction Committee, told the News Service in an email.
