Never worry about knowing how much wine you need for your event again. Use this guide to accurately plan your event budget, order the correct number of bottles, and throw a fantastic party. Whether you’re calculating how much wine per person for a wedding, a business dinner or a birthday, this article has got you covered.
TL:DR: One bottle of wine for every two people is a good rule of thumb when figuring out how much wine to buy for an event.
Early in my career, I worked in Event Sales and Marketing in the restaurant industry, this was before I pivoted to food and wine copywriting. After an event was booked, the first question every single host asked was, “how much wine should I order for my event?” Or, “how much wine do I need per person”?
Whether they were booking a holiday party for their coworkers, a ladies’ luncheon, or ordering wine for their boss’s business dinner, it was always the same question.
Now, not everyone has the luxury of an on-site event manager to walk them through the process of ordering wine at a restaurant – or any venue, for that matter – knowing how much wine per person to order can be overwhelming. After all, you have a thousand other details to plan; the wine should be the least of your worries.
Here is everything you need to make pulling off your event a breeze.
How much wine you need for an event depends on a few things:
- The number of guests
- The number of drinking age guests
- The type of event you’re hosting: business or social
Of course, each event is a little different. How much wine you serve per person for a wedding is different than how much wine you need for a three hour dinner party or a business dinner.
Let’s look at a few specific situations to help you predict the most accurate number of bottles of wine you’ll need on hand per person.
How much wine to serve per person?
A good rule of thumb when planning your dinner or luncheon event is one bottle of wine for every two guests. For example, if you have 100 guests, and you are only offering wine (no hard alcohol) you will need 50 bottles of wine.
This is based on the idea that there are 4-5 glasses of wine per bottle. In the restaurant industry, we like this number because there will always be a few guests who drink a little too much (YOLO), and there will always be a few guests who play it safe – especially at a business gathering – and drink less than expected.
If you run out of wine, the last thing you want is for the server or event planner to awkwardly interrupt your host and ask if they want to order more bottles of wine. This puts the host in an uncomfortable situation, and it puts the event planner in an awkward situation.
Using the one bottle per two people formula will usually leave you with 10%-20% wine leftover after an event. If you order five bottles of wine for 10 people, there will likely be a bottle that doesn’t get opened. In that case, you can always take these home.
Calculating how much wine per person in these scenarios:
A dinner or luncheon with a reception prior
When I planned events at restaurants, and if the host’s time allowed, I always recommended greeting guests with some bubbles. Nothing quite sets a welcoming tone like a glass of champagne or sparkling wine.
Bubbles are elegant, they take the pressure off guests who don’t know what to order, and they give everyone time to settle in and start interacting with one another. If you’re on a budget, prosecco is a great, inexpensive option for greeting guests. Otherwise, you could go with a domestic sparkling wine, many are just as good as their counterparts from Champagne.
I also sold quite a bit of budget-friendly Gruet Sparkling Wine from New Mexico, of all places, when event hosts were mindful of the final bill, but wanted to impress their guests.
If you go with the sparkling wine greeting for your event, one bottle of sparkling wine or Champagne for every four to five people is the way to go. For dinner, you will likely need a little less than two bottles per person. If you offer one red and one white wine, diners usually swing 40% white wine, and 60% red wine.
Wine Pairing Dinner
Restaurants love helping you plan wine pairing dinners. These events let the sommelier pour over (sorry, bad wine pun) their wine lists for the perfect pairings, and get the head chef involved so you can really ‘wow’ your guests.
Event planners, executive assistants and those in restaurant event sales (like I formerly was), love this style of event because they’re highly structured, and structured dinners mean a more accurate budget for the host. In other words, none of your guests are willy nilly consuming wine; the server or sommelier is pouring according to the course.
For three to four course dinners, expect white wine for courses one and two, and red for courses three and four. To calculate how much wine per person for this type of dinner, divide the number of guests by 2.5.
We use 2.5 in this situation because the restaurant staff is pacing the flow of the wine with the food.
How Many Bottles of Wine Per Person for a Wedding?
This one is a little trickier. Because many weddings also include cash or open bars with beer, mixed drinks, and as the celebration goes deeper into the night – shots! – you will need less wine per person than you would at a dinner party or luncheon.
For a wedding, you will need 1 bottle of wine for every 2.5 guests.
I hope this clears up any confusion you might have over how much wine you will need per person at your next event. If you have any questions, feel free to reach out!
FAQs
How much red vs white wine for a party?
Most event planners will suggest buying 60% white / rose wine, and 40% red wine for a party. If the party takes place on a hot summer day, you could modify that to a 70% white / rose wine and 30% red wine split. Having said that, there are no set rules for which wine to serve your party guests. Feel free to If it’s a hot summer day, feel free to mix things up with fun pet nat or sparkling wine too.
What kind of wine should I get for my party?
If you’ve been reading this blog for a while, then you know I love steering folks towards low-intervention, easy-drinking wines that have tons of crowd appeal. Think light chillable red wines and glou glou wines.