The Dewhurst Bill

[Bill Miller]

Fax your state senator-support the "Dewhurst Bill"--it will allow you to bring a wine from home to your favorite resteraunt and pay a "corkage fee" and enjoy it. I have many wines in my cellar--Diamond Creek, Caymus Special Selection, the Justice series, a 96 Calavotto Barolo, etc--you can't order there--lobby your people--wouldn't it be fun!?!

[Bill Miller]

It is so discouraging to find so little interest here--this is a major thing for foodies and wine lovers in Texas--I don't understand.

[sng sling]

It is so discouraging to find so little interest here--this is a major thing for foodies and wine lovers in Texas--I don't understand.    

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I'm confused -- we have a fair number of BYOB restaurants in Houston. The Chronicle did a story on BYO in early March, if I recall properly.

Is this a county-by-county thing???

[Bill Miller]

It is so discouraging to find so little interest here--this is a major thing for foodies and wine lovers in Texas--I don't understand.    

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I'm confused -- we have a fair number of BYOB restaurants in Houston. The Chronicle did a story on BYO in early March, if I recall properly.

Is this a county-by-county thing???

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If the restaurant serves wine you can't bring your own bottle. This new bill would allow you to take a bottle from your home, pay a corkage fee, and drink it at that place. It doesn't affect BYOB places that don't serve wine.

[Kent Wang]

I think it's that if they have a full bar (liquor) you can't BYO.

[Bill Miller]

I think it's that if they have a full bar (liquor) you can't BYO.

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That's wrong. If they serve wine you can't bring your own. What is the argument here?!--The Dewhurst Bill is good for us--quit nit picking about who knows more and support the bill!!!!!

[ariggsby]

I think it's that if they have a full bar (liquor) you can't BYO.

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That's wrong. If they serve wine you can't bring your own. What is the argument here?!--The Dewhurst Bill is good for us--quit nit picking about who knows more and support the bill!!!!!

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Clearly good in the short run for oenophiles; maybe bad in the long run for quality restaurants, and so presumably for all of us:

Rob Balon blog

I don't know enough to have an opinion on the bill, but I'd be curious to hear from a calmer voice on the "no" side.

Andrew

[Bill Miller]

I think it's that if they have a full bar (liquor) you can't BYO.

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That's wrong. If they serve wine you can't bring your own. What is the argument here?!--The Dewhurst Bill is good for us--quit nit picking about who knows more and support the bill!!!!!

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Clearly good in the short run for oenophiles; maybe bad in the long run for quality restaurants, and so presumably for all of us:

Rob Balon blog

I don't know enough to have an opinion on the bill, but I'd be curious to hear from a calmer voice on the "no" side.

Andrew

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The resteraunt sets it's own rules--some say you can only bring wines not on their list-others say you pay a corkage on the first bottle, but then must purchase off the wine list--corkage fees can be anything--$25, $50---obviously the resteraunt can control this and make a profit--and I'm calm, this is just "urgent" due to the legislative session limitations. I would love to know the TRA's position and would welcome a response from them, if they are listening-----

[ariggsby]

and I'm calm, this is just "urgent" due to the legislative session limitations.  I would love to know the TRA's position and would welcome a response from them, if they are listening-----

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I was questioning the calmness of the blog post I quoted on the other side of the debate. Your posts here have been, I agree, totally reasonable.

Andrew

Edited May 7, 2009 by ariggsby (log)

[Dieseldrvr]

Are you saying it's currently illegal for a restaurant to allow you to bring wine, corkage fee or not, if they serve wine? I have been to several restaurants that allow you to bring your own and also serve their own wine. Are they simply breaking the law?

[joiei]

Comments from Sidedish in the DMN

Side Dish

My own personal feeling are how often to you really see anyone taking their own wine into a restaurant for dinner. Not all that often. Otherwise the wine shops would all be very behind this bill because they would be seeing a huge increase in wine sales to people heading off for dinner. Most people just don’t do that including me. If I want wine with dinner I will most times order off the wine list. In 60 years, I have only taken with with me once. Me thinks there is much ado about not much going on here.

Edited May 13, 2009 by joiei (log)

[Tony Boulton]

The above article "Sidedish" is in D Magazine, not the DMN. Nevertheless, it is surprising that people on there seem to be getting their panties in a twist. The corkage fee can be whatever figure they set. And they have to do nothing more than charge it and provide glasses. Considering that most people will not bother (especially if the restaurant has a sensible pricing policy) I don't know what all the fuss is about. The TRA don't have anything on their website about this issue, so it is hard to determine what their position is.

[maxwellh]

This isn't complicated.

The current TABC laws make it ILLEGAL for any resataurant with a full bar (beer, wine, liquor) to allow any form of alcohol purchased off-premise from entering their restaurant. It does not mention bars with a Beer & Wine license (i.e. it is entirely up to these restaurants to determine whether or not to allow outside beverages to be consumed inside their establishments).

Further: some of us out here sometimes like to take nice (collectable?) bottles of wine into restaurants and not be forced to only enjoy these wines with home-cooked meals. This bill would modify TABC laws to allow us to do that. It would still be up to restaurants to decide whether or not to allow such a thing. It would still be up to restaurants to determine how much (if at all) to charge for such a thing.

There is no logical reason NOT to support this bill.

So . . .

y'know . . .

SUPPORT IT ALREADY!