Wine Party Planning: How Much Do You Need?

– Where Can I Get A Wine Calculator?

Let’s see here. Joey drinks a lot, but his wife doesn’t. Now Cheryl, yeah, she can really put it away. Then there is that couple that works with my husband. They just look like they would need 2 bottles. Each. Oh, I almost forgot, cousin Freddie is coming. He might as well use a funnel. Why did I ever agree to throw this wine party! I have no clue how much I need!

Ahhh, trying to plan the perfect wine party. You cleaned the house, made the food, hand washed the glasses, took out the garbage, and dropped the kids at grandma’s house. Everything is ready. Well, except for that last minute run to the wine store. But how much wine do you need? Let’s just see if I can help you figure it out. It’s not that hard, just simple math and a little intuition will suffice.

The Basics

Before you can figure out just how much cousin Freddie is going to drink, you need to know the basic serving sizes of the wine you are buying. The standard 750 ml (25.5oz) bottle is going to produce around 5 glasses if poured evenly. Using crazy mathematical equations, if you buy a Magnum, or 1.5 L(50.8oz) bottle, you will get 10 servings. Buy a case of 750 ml you ask? 60 servings. See, you don’t have to use calculus to figure this out.

Oh, so you want to make this more difficult I see? You don’t want to pour the standard 5 oz. wine glass? Gotcha. It’s more of a tasting sampler wine party. Ok, fine. Let’s try it with 3 oz. pours. In this case, a standard 750 ml bottle will produce 8 glasses, a 1.5 L will give you 17. A full case would give you 101 pours! So, as you can see, there is quite a difference depending on how you serve it.

What Else Besides The Wine Do I Need?

Before I give you those equations on how much wine to buy, let’s make sure you have all the wine tasting essentials ready to go. Having 40 bottles of wine with no way of opening it or anywhere to put it will make for a bad wine tasting. Unless you invite that one guy you know who can bite off glass, then you could all just drink from your own bottles. Not recommended.

First of all, you need to be able to open the wines. So find whatever bottle opener fits you the best. It could be the basic waiter’s friend (simple pocket corkscrew), or a more elaborate and expensive table stand opener. There are several different styles of openers on the market, so go to the store and play around with them. I will say this, though. Try to stay away from the electric wine bottle openers, unless, of course, you want to be laughed at.

Next, you need to have somewhere to pour the wines for your guests to taste them! There are so many choices here, and if at all possible, do a little research based upon what type of wines you are serving. White wines and red wines perform better from different types of glasses. However, it is not imperative that you have the exact glasses for each type of wine you are serving. Just get as close as possible, and don’t go broke trying to be perfect.

Other items you want to have are palate cleansers (water crackers work great), water, spit buckets, and some pen and paper. No, the pen and paper are not to write down who could spit the most crackers into a bucket. Give your guests some stationary to write down notes and their favorite wines they tasted. The spit bucket is often used to discard that first sip of each wine. The crackers and water or whatever (don’t use barbecue flavored chips) are to cleanse the palate, so that all the wines don’t start to taste the same. If you want to get real fancy, give your guest a clear white background and clean glasses so they can observe the color of the wines. All of these things will ensure you have a fun and educational wine tasting.

Ok, So Where Are Those Wine Formulas You Promised?

Don’t rush me. I’m getting to that now! Ok, so you got all the other essentials to throwing the perfect wine tasting at your house. You know what kind of party it will be, how many guests you have coming, and now you just have to purchase the wine. So how much do you need, exactly? Here are some basic formulas to follow.