Santa Fe- Restaurant and bar patrons wanting to drink their own bottle of wine in a New Mexico restaurant or bar could do so under a bill sponsored by Senator Ron Griggs (R-Alamogordo.)
SB 58 allows a business with a liquor license to have the option of offering its patrons the service of uncorking a customer’s own bottle of wine and serving it to them for a fee.
“Let’s uncork New Mexico. Let’s open it up to more business opportunities. This bill offers more flexibility to our New Mexico businesses. They can offer another service their customers can take advantage of. Instead of restricting business, we want to open them up to more ways to earn a profit, so they can in turn, hire more New Mexicans,” Senator Griggs said.
He noted people celebrating a special occasion like an anniversary might want to bring their own, special bottle of wine that might not be on the menu and enjoy it with their meal at a New Mexico restaurant. His bill would allow them to do that and the restaurant to charge a service fee, if the restaurant chooses to offer this uncorking service.
The bill has passed Senate Public Affairs and is expected to be heard in Senate Corps and Trans the week of February 6.
According to the analysis: Bill 58 allows a dispenser, canopy licensee or restaurant licensee to permit customers to bring their own wine, which is wine not on the menu, to have it opened and served for a fee. The restaurant is not required to offer uncorking services and servers must comply with all other requirements of the Liquor Control Act. SB 58 does allow the customer to leave with an opened bottle of partially consumed wine provided: the customer has purchased a meal, consumed a portion of the meal; a copy of the receipt and a note identifying it as the customer’s own bottle of wine is attached to the bottle; and the bottle is corked and sealed in a tamper-proof bag.