By the Bottle? To Go? No Problem.

If you can't finish that bottle of wine, you can now take it home.

A new law will soon let Mississippi diners take home leftovers – of wine. MPB’s Cari Gervin has more.

Ever want to order a bottle of wine at dinner but don’t because you know you won’t finish it?

Starting July 1, that’s no longer an issue. A new law will allow diners to take home unfinished bottles of wine at the end of the night.

Mike Cashion is the Executive Director of the Mississippi Hospitality & Restaurant Association. He says the group lobbied for the new law for years.

“Certain restaurants will offer wines only by the bottle, but consumers may want to drink a glass of that particular wine. This gives the best of both worlds, where those consumers can go ahead and order that bottle of wine, you know, drink one or two glasses, recork it and take it home with them, without feeling compelled to consume the entire bottle at one sitting.”

The unfinished wine must be placed in special bags or corked with a special lid by the restaurant before diners can leave with it.

Andy Douglas is the owner and chef at Andy’s Steakhouse in Oxford. He says the law could actually help consumers see cheaper wine prices in restaurants.

“You know, one of the reasons prices tend to get high at restaurants is because we have wastage when we have to open a bottle and nobody orders that for four or five days, we have to dump it out. So it’ll save money for the restaurants from that angle, and hopefully it will increase sales from the bottle angle.”

Mothers Against Drunk Driving also lobbied for the law, in the hopes that it will encourage responsible wine consumption. For MPB News, I’m Cari Gervin in Oxford.