Ron DeSantis signs bill allowing Florida stores to sell giant bottles of wine

This law might age better than his battle with Disney. Or at least keep Florida red.

A day after reaching a settlement in his running court fight with the Walt Disney Company, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed legislation to allow retailers to sell gigantic bottles of wine.

Current state law limits sales to bottles holding a gallon or less of the beverage. 

Now, bottle sizes are getting bigger. A lot bigger.

The law sets out sizes that are of biblical proportions, getting rid of legal definitions advocates said choked commerce.

They are the Rehoboan, clocking in a six bottles' worth; the Methuselah, which is as much as eight bottles; the Salmanazar, at 12 bottles; and the huge Nebuchadnessar, at 20 bottles.

That adds up to almost four gallons of wine – enough to lubricate a wedding or retirement party, or even a campaign event at Mar-a-Lago.

DeSantis signed the legislation, pushed by GOP state Rep. Rep. Chip LaMarca. He described it as a common sense way to trim red tape, after powering his failed presidential campaign with culture war moves. 

He staged the event at a wine store in front of a huge sign that said Carpe Vinum, or 'enjoy wine.'

'We want our consumers to be happy,' DeSantis said. And if that means they want to buy and sell a big old bottle of wine like this, then by golly they're going to be able to do that in the state of Florida.'

 'There really was no public policy reason why we should have this regulation,' DeSantis said, the Sun Sentinel reported.

The history buff said wine has been 'near and dear' to some of the nation's founders, mentioning George Washington (who also set up a distillery at Mt. Vernon). 

Then, the former candidate who struggled to connect with Iowans in his battle against tee-totaler Donald Trump, spilled a bit of his oenophilia. 

'Some tannins, right?' he gushed after taking a sip of red wine. Then he quipped it was 'usually not part of my morning routine just so everybody knows.'

The law goes into effect July 1, and also allows distributors and manufacturers to sell wine to each other in containers of any size.