Um, it makes the guys giving me money happy? That seems to be the reason for passing many laws, but I’d hardly call that a “rationale”!

§ 4.1-315. Possession without license to sell alcoholic beverages upon premises of restaurant; exceptions; penalty.

A. No alcoholic beverages shall be kept or allowed to be kept upon any premises or upon the person of any proprietor or person employed upon the premises of a restaurant or other place where food or refreshments of any kind are furnished for compensation, except such alcoholic beverages as such person owning or operating such place of business is licensed to purchase and to sell at such place of business.

http://leg1.state.va.us/cgi-bin/legp504.exe?000+cod+4.1-315

§ 4.1-326. Sale of; purchase for resale; wine or beer from a person without a license; penalty.

No licensee, other than a common carrier operating in interstate or foreign commerce, licensed to sell wine or beer at retail shall purchase for resale or sell any wine or beer purchased from anyone other than a wholesale wine, farm winery, brewery, bottler’s or wholesale beer licensee.

http://leg1.state.va.us/cgi-bin/legp504.exe?000+cod+4.1-326

These citations were provided by a helpful Virginia ABC law enforcement officer in response to my email query.

17. Serving: Do not mix beer with wine or spirits. No more than two (2) spirits drinks may be served to a patron at a time.

See the PDF at

http://www.abc.virginia.gov/licensing/bulletins/VOL56-NO1.pdf

A bill was introduced in January to make sangria legal. See:

http://leg1.state.va.us/cgi-bin/legp504.exe?081+ful+HB1269

The bill retains the existing definition in Virginia law of “wine”, which includes port and sherry but not brandy:

“Wine” means any alcoholic beverage obtained by the fermentation of the natural sugar content of fruits or other agricultural products containing (i) sugar, including honey and milk, either with or without additional sugar; (ii) one-half of one percent or more of alcohol by volume; and (iii) no product of distillation. The term includes any wine to which wine spirits have been added, as provided in the Internal Revenue Code, to make products commonly known as “fortified wine” which do not exceed an alcohol content of 21 percent by volume.

Vermouth is complicated because it is both a wine and a spirit, and in any case, it simply best avoided in the interest of good taste.

A more pressing alcohol regulation question in Virginia is whether it is permissible for a restaurant to allow patrons to bring their own wine, to be opened by the restaurant subject to a corking fee. Virginia regulations seem to be silent on the matter, but I have yet to find a restaurant either willing to allow BYOB wine or able to clearly state that it is illegal. Does anyone here know the answer?

But since the whole issue is nutz, I guess a tiny mistake like that doesn’t matter.