This wine calculator is part of The New Rules of Dinner Parties, a new collection of advice, recipes, and perspectives on one of the things we’ve missed the most. Read all the stories here.
How much wine is “enough” wine for your dinner party? Here’s a handy drink calculator for you—actually, it’s solely a wine calculator. Most people would say that the dinner is the most important part of a dinner party, but I would argue it’s having enough wine. It starts conversations, complements dishes (you didn’t burn), and keeps the party going. You can pull a Tim Allen and turn a turkey into a wildfire, and no one will care if there are plenty of bottles to go around.
How many glasses are in a bottle of wine?
To start, you need to know how many glasses are in a bottle of wine. This seems obvious, but considering we’ve all had nights where a whole bottle of red wine equals two very large mason jars of Cab Franc while hate-watching Love Actually, it’s important to break it down.
A bottle of wine is 750 milliliters, which works out to approximately 25 ounces. The suggested serving size of wine is five ounces, which would mean each bottle has five glasses. If you want to stick to that math, that is perfectly fine, although, personally, I don’t believe five ounces is a glass of wine. I think it’s a joke. Who pours exactly five ounces of wine? No one. If you work from the five-glasses-per-bottle logic, you almost always come up short. According to my very professional opinion, a 750-ml bottle of wine works out to be about four glasses of wine, and two chugs straight from the bottle you are awarded as the dinner party host.
What's that funky orange wine they’re drinking? Read more about it here.
Photo by Alexandra GavilletWhat is the alcohol content of a bottle of wine?
This isn’t an alcohol calculator in terms of ABV, but real quick, here’s a crash course on wine alcohol by volume. The average glass of wine contains around 11% to 13% alcohol. But you might serve a bottle containing 5.5% ABV (might be a sparkling wine or a rosé) or over 20% ABV (probably a sherry or port). It depends. If a wine has higher degrees Brix, or sugar levels, it will usually have higher alcohol levels. It’s got to do with what kind of grapes are used in the fermentation process during winemaking.
So how many bottles of wine do you need for your party?
Okay, back to the main topic. Using the above information, I say you need at least one bottle of wine per guest. Think about it—you have a glass before dinner, a few at dinner, another after dinner. Boom, that’s a bottle right there, and that’s being conservative. But that’s just me, and it’s not my dinner party. To find out exactly how many bottles you need, we’re going to do a liiiittle math.
Since you already know how many glasses are in a bottle of wine, there are two other variables you must know in order to solve this ancient and universal equation.
First, how many guests are coming?
Check the group text and count ’em up. Always add two extra people because you never know who is going to surprise you with a new boyfriend or when that notoriously flaky friend you still love and always invite will actually show up.
Second, how many glasses of wine will each guest drink?
None of us here are psychic, but we can use this chart I made to predict how many glasses of wine your guests will consume based upon the duration of your dinner party and their love of wine.
» Skip down to calculator
Are you throwing a party, wedding reception, fundraiser, or other event and need to know how much wine to buy? You’ll get an estimate of how many bottles of wine to buy using this calculator. The calculator can also guestimate how many of your guests might prefer wine over other alcohol, and it will also offer recommendations on what type of wine to buy.
Read on for more information, or jump to the bottom to use the calculator.
What Portion Of Your Guests Will Be Drinking Wine?
A 2019 Gallup poll survey showed that approximately 65% of people surveyed drink alcohol on occasion; while 34% indicated that they never drank alcohol.
This survey indicated that of the 65% that drank alcohol, their alcoholic preferences are generally 48% beer, 30% wine, and 29% liquor.
65% Of Guests Will Consume Alcohol
If you aren’t sure how many wine drinkers are attending your event, first multiply the total number of guests by 65% to guestimate how many might drink any type of alcohol. If you have 100 guests, 65 are likely to drink alcohol. 100 X .65 = 65
30% Of Guests That Consume Alcohol Will Prefer Wine
Of the guests that will consume alcohol, 30% will prefer wine. So we would multiply the number of alcohol-consuming guests by .30 to get an approximate idea of how many guests will be drinking wine. Based on the previous example of our 65 guests, 20 will prefer wine. 65 X .30 = 19.5
Now that we know how many of our guests will prefer wine, we can calculate how much wine to have on hand.
What type of wine should you serve?
Wine Preferences
White wine used to be the favorite but a 2019 Nielsen scan data showed that red and white wines are now almost equally preferred (46% red and 45% white).
The Most Popular Wine Varietals
The five most popular wine varietals in 2019 were Cabernet Sauvignon, Chardonnay, Pinot Grigio, Pinot Noir, Sauvignon Blanc, Merlot, White Zinfandel, Malbec, Riesling, and Shiraz.
How Many Glasses Are In A Bottle Of Wine?
A 750ml bottle of wine is equal to 25.36 ounces and a standard pour of wine is 5 ounces. This would mean that there are 5 glass servings per bottle of wine.
This calculator uses the following information to determine how much wine is needed:
- A 750ml bottle of wine is equal to 25.36 ounces
- A standard pour of wine is 5 ounces
- One bottle of wine is equal to 5 glasses of wine
- Guests will generally have 2 glasses the first hour then one glass each additional hour
- White and red wine preferences are almost equal
How Many Bottles Of Wine To Buy Chart
Here’s a simplified breakdown of how much wine you would need for a 4 hour gathering, using common numbers of guests that will likely prefer wine. As you can see, the calculation assumes 2 glasses per person the first hour and 1 glass each additional hour. So for this four hour event, you would need one bottle per wine-drinking person. Use the calculator to get the quantity for your specific number of guests based on the length of your gathering, as well as wine variety recommendations.
How many bottles of wine for 10 wine-drinking
guests? You will need 10 bottles of wine for 10 guests.
How many bottles of wine for 20 wine-drinking guests? You will need 20 bottles of wine for 20 guests.
How many bottles of wine for 25 wine-drinking guests? You will need 25 bottles of wine for 25 guests.
How many bottles of wine for 30 wine-drinking guests? You will need 30
bottles of wine for 30 guests.
How many bottles of wine for 40 wine-drinking guests? You will need 40 bottles of wine for 40 guests.
How many bottles of wine for 50 wine-drinking guests? You will need 50 bottles of wine for 50 guests.
How many bottles of wine for 75 wine-drinking guests? You will need 75 bottles of wine for 75 guests.
How many bottles of wine for 100 wine-drinking guests? You will need 100 bottles of wine for 100 guests.
You might also be interested in The Ultimate Party Drink Planner Calculator