This past weekend I was in Tampa for the ACC Championship game between Georgia Tech and Clemson. Well, that’s a fib. I was in Tampa for the Georgia Tech game, but I’m not sure that I would have driven seven and a half hours each way for a weekend if I didn’t also have a reservation at Bern’s on Friday night.
If you are unfamiliar with Bern’s, here’s the four things you need to know:
- Bern’s has been around since the late 1950’s.
- They have over one million bottles of wine in their cellars.
- Many of these bottles have been mostly untouched since they were purchased on release.
- Bern’s charges a very fair price for their wines
Oh they have food too. In fact, they trim their dry aged prime beef to order, but I’m almost unable to recall what I ate, because I was in a stupor over the juice. We drank some crazy White Burg, a Rhone almost as old as my father, and some Vouvray dessert wine in the Harry Waugh room.
You may be wondering, hey, how many of there were you drinking all these wines? Only two of us, but the trick was that we took wine home, something I’ve only done once prior. I wasn’t exactly sure if this was going to be an option in Florida, because wine laws vary greatly by state. I tried looking it up, and found some info on www.winedoggybag.com, but I’m skeptical of trusting open container law definition by someone who is trying to sell their wares (“no occifer, it’s ok, I read it online”). Once at the restaurant, I was assured that I could take the wine home, and they re-corked and packaged up the partially drank wines for me nicely. And I drove home after our 4 hour marathon meal, safely.
Last year I remember reading that Georgia now allows consumers to remove opened bottles of wine from restaurants, the so called “Merlot to Go” law (aka Senate Bill 55). But I wasn’t sure what the specific rules are for this law.
Section 3-6-4 of Senate bill 55 defines the rules as such:
Notwithstanding any other contrary provision of law, any restaurant which is licensed to sell alcoholic beverages for consumption on the premises may permit a patron to remove one unsealed bottle of wine per patron for consumption off premises, if the patron has purchased a meal and consumed a portion of the bottle of wine which has been purchased on the premises with such meal on the restaurant´s premises. A partially consumed bottle of wine that is to be removed from the premises must be securely resealed by the licensee or its employees before removal from the premises. The partially consumed bottle of wine shall be placed in a bag or other container that is secured in such a manner that it is visibly apparent if the container has been subsequently opened or tampered with, and a dated receipt for the bottle of wine and meal shall be provided by the licensee and attached to the container. If transported in a motor vehicle, the container with the resealed bottle of wine shall be placed in a locked glove compartment, a locked trunk, or the area behind the last upright seat of a motor vehicle that is not equipped with a trunk.
So there you have it, right? Well, maybe.
You’re safest option is calling the venue before you go to make sure they’re comfortable allowing you to take wine home from their restaurant. I called Woodfire Grill today and when I asked the person who answered if I could bring wine home he said, “well…good question”, then promptly got back to me and assured me it would not be a problem.
The best part about bringing your wine home is that you can enjoy them the next day, perhaps they will continue to develop, and you then while you tailgate prior to your sweet, sweet ACC Championship victory.
Go Jackets.
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