Governor Ron DeSantis signs bill allowing larger wine bottle sales in Florida
Tallahassee, Florida – Governor Ron DeSantis today signed HB 583, enabling the buying and selling of wine in bottles as large as 15 liters.
“In Florida, we are always looking for ways to reduce regulation and improve our residents’ quality of life,” Governor DeSantis remarked. ” If Floridians can purchase a large bottle of wine online from another state, they should be able to buy one from their local wine or grocery store.”
” This legislation has been a priority for me over the past five years, because I never saw it as good public policy to criminalize the sale of wine based on the container size in the free state of Florida,” Representative Chip LaMarca explained. ” It allows Florida to be on the forefront of two important policy issues—economic freedom and criminal justice reform. I would like to thank all of the stakeholders through this process from Napa Valley to Tallahassee who made this a possibility. It is now time to FREE THE GRAPES!
” Governor DeSantis has a long history of cutting red tape, and today’s signing of House Bill 583 is a testament to his commitment to Florida businesses,” stated Melanie S. Griffin, Secretary of the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation. ” This legislation will make it easier for more than 51,000 DBPR licensees to do business, and we thank Governor DeSantis, Representative LaMarca and others that helped make it a reality.”
Before this law, Florida’s wine distributors and manufacturers could sell wine in any size container to other businesses, but regular people couldn’t buy wine in bottles larger than one gallon. With HB 583 now in effect, it’s legal to buy wine bottles up to 15 liters, roughly equivalent to four gallons, allowing for the purchase of wine in popular sizes like:
- Methuselah (6 liters)
- Salmanazar (9 liters)
- Balthazar (12 liters)
- Nebuchadnezzar (15 liters)