Wine enthusiasts seek to bring their own into more restaurants
Some wine enthusiasts are hoping Beacon Hill will endorse a bill that would allow residents to bring their own wines into consenting and licensed Massachusetts restaurants.
David Spencer, founder and chairman of a corporation focused on recycling metals and plastics, told a panel of lawmakers on Tuesday that he is also a "wine lover."
"I would love to drink my wines at Massachusetts restaurants, hotels and private clubs," he said. But current law prevents that, Spencer added, and he is backing a bill to change that, bringing the state in line with what New York, Vermont and New Hampshire allow. Current state law does allow residents to bring their own beer or wine into unlicensed restaurants.
"Frankly, it is hard to understand why our current Massachusetts law prevents wines purchased in a licensed retail store from being consumed at a licensed restaurant, while at the same time permitting such wines to be consumed at non-licensed restaurants," Spencer, a Bedford resident and head of the wTe Corporation, told members of the Committee on Consumer Protection and Professional Licensure.
The bill, sponsored by Sen. William Brownsberger (D-Belmont), allows a restaurant, club or hotel to charge a "reasonable corkage fee per bottle of wine" consumed. The state's Alcoholic Beverages Control Commission would be charged with determining the fee.
"We're not experts in tax law, ok? The point is the restaurant should receive some overhead mark-up to offset what the loss would be compared to selling the wine," said Spencer, who is also chair of the Wine Committee at the St. Botolph Club.
Frederick Ek, a Cambridge resident who retired from the wine business in 2010, said the bill would lead to restaurants drawing more customers. "People will not only purchase wines from retailers but will also be able to celebrate special events such as anniversaries and the like, bringing wines from their cellars," he said in testimony.
But Rep. Jennifer Benson, a Lunenburg Democrat who co-chairs the committee, sounded skeptical notes about the bill and said she expected the Massachusetts Restaurant Association to have concerns.
"If you're an establishment that has already gone through, gotten the licensing to serve, and you stocked to serve, and then other people start bringing in their own bottles, it seems like it would definitely cut into your business," she said.
Benson added that she had questions about how the potential law would be enforced and the liability aspect if a patron drinks too much.
"If you're bringing in your own bottle, who bears the liability of serving that bottle in the restaurant?" she said.
"I have reservations, and not a pun as in restaurant reservations," Benson said after the hearing.
WBJ Web Partners
Most Recent
Most Recent
0 Comments