How Many Glasses in a Bottle of Wine?

Have you ever wondered how many glasses in a bottle of wine there are? If you’re the average person, probably not, you simply pour the wine into your glass until you decide you have the right amount, and you enjoy.

There’s normally no need to think about the number of glasses of wine you get from a single bottle unless you work at a restaurant!

But, if you want to be an educated, cultured connoisseur of wine, these are the kind of things you need to know. In this Wine 101 post, we’ll teach you everything you need to know about the contents of that bottle of wine…

 

How Many Glasses in A Bottle of Wine?

Before we answer this question, you need to know how much wine each bottle contains, as well as how many millilitres (ml) of wine should go in each glass.

In a standard bottle of wine, there are 750 millilitres (ml), 75 centilitres (cl) or 0.75 litres (l). Wine bottles aren’t quite litre-size, but the average wine bottle will contain 750ml. of wine.

Some older red wines and ports may have sediment. This is harmless, but it’s usually best to leave it in the bottom of the bottle when pouring or decanting. This will, therefore, reduce the total amount of wine being served from the bottle.

But how much should you serve in each glass of wine? That’s a tougher question to answer:

  • For wine tastings – When you are enjoying a wine-tasting, the average serving size, is roughly 60ml. If you stick with this serving size, you can get around 12 wine tasting-size glasses.
  • For dinner parties – At a dinner party, you’ll serve about 125ml. So, if you’re wondering how many 125ml glasses in a bottle of wine, you will get 6 glasses of wine from your bottle.
  • For private drinking – When you are drinking at home, it’s normal to serve up to 175ml of wine. For those who want to know how many 175ml glasses in a bottle of wine, you can expect just over 4 glasses.
  • For drinking at a bar or restaurant – Bars and restaurants will usually offer 125ml, 175ml and 250ml size servings. By law restaurants and bars must offer a 125ml option, but most sales are for 175ml and 250ml (medium or large) serves. It is worth remembering that a 250ml serving is a whole third of a bottle.

 

How Much Wine Is Served Per Type?

Here’s something to keep in mind: not all wine is served in the same quantities!

Red wines and white wines are usually served alongside food, and they are served in larger wine glasses – capable of holding up to 500ml of wine. Of course, you never fill your wine glass completely, so the average serving size of a glass of wine at a restaurant is 175ml.

  • How many LARGE glasses of wine in a bottle of red wine or white? You’ll usually get no more than 4 glasses in total, and only three if servings are 250ml each.
  • How many SMALL glasses of wine in a bottle of red wine or white? You’ll usually get as many as 6 or 7, depending on the serving size. The standard small size of 125ml gives exactly six glasses per bottle.

Of course, you don’t always get the same amount of wine when drinking other types of wine:

Champagne and Sparkling wine

Sparkling wines can often be a smaller average serving, with 125ml being the most common, Champagne served as a toast at special celebrations for example. These wines are traditionally served in flute glasses (which hold 125ml), but it can be better to use standard wine glasses to maximise the aromas.

Rosé Wine

The average serving size of rosé wine is between 125ml and 175ml, the same as white and red wines.

Sweet wine, Port and Sherry

Sweet wines, Port, and Sherry are usually served in smaller glasses with around 75ml of liquid, but standard wine glasses are just as good. Better to be too big than too small!

 

How Much Wine should you Serve per Person?

This is when things start to get a bit tricky. Calculating the right amount of wine per person depends on the occasion, and you have to figure out how many bottles of wine to buy. Headache central, right?

Here’s what you need to know:

Wine tasting  

Wine tastings are all about giving your guests a wide selection of wines to taste. The average 60 ml glass of wine served at a wine tasting is half the size of the wine drunk at parties or mealtimes.

You can usually get away with up to 6 glasses of wine per person without worrying about inebriation or overdrinking. This is equivalent to approximately two glasses of wine in a restaurant or bar (175ml).

 

Eating out  

If you are drinking wine at a restaurant, you can get 3 to 4 glasses per bottle, or you can order by the glass. Some restaurants may offer a ‘wine flight’ or wines to match each dish. Flight glasses are usually 75ml per glass and can be a great way of learning more about food and wine matching.

 

Wine/cheese tasting

This is a way to expand your palate and experience the wonder that is the pairing of wine and cheese. You will keep your cheese options limited, so you’ll want to limit your wines as well.

You can stick with the smaller servings of wine (60-75ml per glass).

 

Dinner party

The rule of thumb at a dinner party is three glasses of wine per person. This helps people to relax without pushing them over the edge into inebriation or falling asleep! This means you’ll need two bottles of wine per three people, give or take.

You could always buy a magnum which is a 1.5 litre bottle of wine or a jeroboam with is a massive 3 litres if you are having a lot of guests round.

Getting the serving sizes right is the key to safe, healthy wine drinking. Avoid overdoing it at wine tastings, dinner parties, and celebrations, and you’ll enjoy your wine a whole lot more!

Nifty Tip: Nail the Serving Size

Want to get your serving sizes just right? Pour exactly the right amount of water into a wine glass, and use a marker to mark the level. All you’ll need to do is fill that wine glass to the right level, and transfer the wine into the fresh glasses. It’s the best way to get a perfectly even serving size.

Or, fill an empty wine bottle with water and see if you can guess how much to pour into a glass to get a typical 125ml serving. If you get it right, you should be able to pour the sixth glass to the same level as the first. Why not see if you are a natural expert?! (6 x 125ml glasses is one 750m bottle exactly).

 

 

 

Source: https://www.vintageroots.co.uk/how-many-glasses-in-a-bottle-of-wine

Image credits: Polina Kovaleva.