How Many Ounces in a Glass of Wine? Pours by Style

A standard glass of wine is 5 fluid ounces, the pour the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) uses for one standard drink of table wine at about 12% alcohol. Restaurant pours can be a little bigger, and dessert and fortified wines are usually poured smaller. A tasting pour is about half a regular glass. Here is each pour side by side, why the glass itself is no guide, and how to see what 5 ounces looks like at home.

Wine pours at a glance

Pour	Ounces	Source
Standard glass of table wine	5	NIAAA; Wine Spectator’s Dr. Vinny
Sparkling wine	5	Wine Enthusiast
Restaurant glass	5 to 6	Wine Enthusiast; Wine Folly
Tasting pour	2 to 3	Wine Folly
Fortified wine, as one standard drink	3 to 4	NIAAA
Fortified or sweet wine, standard pour	2	Wine Enthusiast

These figures don’t all measure the same thing. The NIAAA is defining an amount of alcohol, while the wine publications are describing how wine is served. The NIAAA itself says its standard drink amounts “may not reflect customary serving sizes”.

Where the 5-ounce standard comes from

The NIAAA defines a US standard drink as any drink containing 0.6 fluid ounces, or 14 grams, of pure alcohol. For table wine at about 12% alcohol, that works out to 5 fluid ounces. Wine Spectator’s Dr. Vinny says the proper serving for a glass of wine is 5 ounces, whatever the size of the glass.

Federal label rules use the same number. According to a 2025 Federal Register notice from the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB), its 2013 ruling on voluntary “Serving Facts” statements sets the wine serving at 5 fluid ounces for wines of 7% to 16% alcohol, and at 2.5 fluid ounces for wines above 16% and up to 24%.

At 5 ounces, a 750 ml bottle pours about five glasses. In our view, it’s the most useful number to remember, whether you’re pouring at home or counting bottles for a party. Our guide to how many ounces are in a bottle of wine has the math for every size.

Restaurant and wine bar pours

There’s no single number for restaurants. Wine Enthusiast gives 5 to 6 ounces as the standard pour for professional wine service, and says that range helps staff standardize service and pricing. Wine Folly calls six ounces a typical glass and says many places prefer five because it yields five glasses per bottle instead of four. It also says plainly that no standard pour size exists, and it suggests asking your server before you order.

We’d do the same when a glass is priced close to a bottle. A quick question about the pour tells you whether you’re comparing four glasses to the bottle or five.

Tasting pours

Wine Folly puts a standard tasting pour at about 2 to 3 ounces, around half a regular serving, and says a bottle holds about 10 tasting pours. Tasting rooms and wine bars set their own sizes, so a flight may not match that exactly. If you’re hosting a tasting, we’d plan on the Wine Folly figure and put out water and food alongside the wine.

Sparkling wine

Sparkling wine is served in the same amount as still wine: Wine Enthusiast gives 5 ounces for both, in a flute or any other glass. It suggests stopping a little earlier when you pour, so the foam can settle. A 750 ml bottle of Prosecco or Champagne therefore pours about five glasses, the same as a still wine.

Dessert and fortified wine

Sources differ here, partly because they’re measuring different things:

• The NIAAA counts 3 to 4 fluid ounces of fortified wine, such as Sherry or Port at about 17% alcohol, as one standard drink.
• TTB uses a 2.5-ounce serving for wines above 16% and up to 24% alcohol in its Serving Facts ruling.
• Wine Enthusiast gives 2 ounces as the standard pour for fortified or sweet wines.

In our view, 2 to 3 ounces is a sensible pour for very sweet or strong wines, since they’re rich and meant for slow sipping. Our guide to fortified wine explains the styles and how strong they are.

Pour size vs. glass size

The size of the glass and the size of the pour are separate questions. Wine Enthusiast says many wine glasses have a capacity of 16 to 20 ounces, and the six glasses in our guide to the best wine glasses hold about 16 to 18.8 ounces by their makers’ figures, where stated. Dr. Vinny says the size of the glass doesn’t dictate the volume of the pour. A big bowl gives the wine more surface area, not more servings.

So how full should the glass be? Dr. Vinny’s personal rule is about one-third full, whatever the design, and he says swirling is much easier without spilling when a glass is less than half full. A 5-ounce pour in a 16-ounce glass comes to just about that third. Our guide to how to hold a wine glass has more on pouring and filling by style.

Tip: To see what 5 ounces looks like in your own glasses, measure water with a kitchen measuring cup (5 fluid ounces is a little under ⅔ cup) and pour it in. Do that once and you’ll have a good eye for it.

How much alcohol is in your glass?

Ounces alone don’t tell you how much alcohol you’re getting. Using the NIAAA’s 0.6-ounce definition, we calculated a few common pours (ounces × alcohol percentage ÷ 0.6):

Pour	ABV	Standard drinks
5 oz	12%	1.0
5 oz	14.5%	About 1.2
6 oz	13.5%	About 1.35
8 oz	13.5%	About 1.8
3.5 oz	17%	About 1.0

ABV is alcohol by volume, the percentage printed on most labels. The NIAAA notes that alcohol content varies within and across types of drinks, and our guide to wine alcohol content explains why the label figure is approximate. In our view, a measured pour is the simplest way to keep track of what’s in the glass. These figures are for comparing pours, not targets. If you have questions about how much alcohol is right for you, ask your doctor.

For more serving and storage guides, browse Wine Basics.

Wine is for adults of legal drinking age (21 in the US). Please drink responsibly.