D.C. Bill Would Allow Leftover Wine To Be Taken Home

A D.C. Council member introduced a bill Tuesday that would let restaurant-goers in the District put a cork in a bottle of wine and take it home.

Forty-eight states including Maryland and Virginia already have such laws in place, and D.C. restaurateurs said they would be glad to join them.

Khalid Pitt and his wife, Diane Gross, sell a lot of wine at Cork, a wine bar on 14th Street in Northwest, but their customers can't take any bottle leftovers home. Pitt described a "moral dilemma" of trying to finish the bottle or just leave the leftovers.

On Tuesday, the D.C. Council passed preliminary legislation that, if finally approved, will allow take-home wine in city restaurants.

Gross said that means their customers can be safer when they leave Cork because they can choose to take leftover wine with them instead of drinking it before leaving.

"Patrons will be more inclined to purchase more expensive bottles of wine knowing they have the option of taking the bottle home," said council member Kwame Brown.

Marion Barry said alcohol sales are an important part of the city's huge hospitality industry, so he supported the bill.

The measure likely won't be in effect until late this summer.