Wine Party Calculator: How Much Wine Do You Need?

Planning wine for a party comes down to three numbers: how many guests drink wine, how long the party lasts and how fast people drink. Enter them above and the calculator shows how many bottles to buy, split into red, white and sparkling.

How the calculator works

The math is simple, and you can check it yourself:

1. Glasses per guest. At a typical pace we plan two glasses in the first hour and one glass for every hour after that. This is a common rule of thumb for party planning, not a measured average. For a quieter evening, choose the light pace of one glass an hour.
2. Total glasses = wine-drinking guests × glasses per guest.
3. Bottles = total glasses ÷ 5. A standard US wine bottle is 750 ml (one of the standard sizes in federal rules, 27 CFR 4.72), about 25.4 ounces, which pours five 5-ounce glasses. A 5-ounce glass of 12% wine is one standard drink according to the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA).
4. Split by color. The occasion sets the share of red, white (or rosé) and sparkling. Each color is rounded up to whole bottles, so you always have a little spare.

For example, 20 guests at a three-hour dinner party at a typical pace drink about 4 glasses each, 80 glasses in all. That is 16 bottles: 8 red, 7 white and 2 sparkling after rounding up, so 17 bottles to buy.

Tip: Count only the guests who will drink wine. If some guests prefer beer, cocktails or non-alcoholic drinks, leave them out of the number.

Quick guide: bottles by party size

These figures use the typical pace and are totals before the split by color; rounding each color up can add a bottle or two.

Wine drinkers	2 hours	3 hours	4 hours
10	6 bottles	8 bottles	10 bottles
20	12 bottles	16 bottles	20 bottles
50	30 bottles	40 bottles	50 bottles
100	60 bottles	80 bottles	100 bottles

A case holds 12 bottles, so 40 bottles is a little over three cases. For a long list of the bottles we’d buy at each budget, see our best wine under $20 and best cheap wine picks, both chosen with our Blue Book Value method.

Weddings and large parties

For a wedding, use the wedding mix and add the sparkling toast if there is one. A toast adds one glass per guest, or one extra bottle of sparkling wine for every five guests. Champagne quickly gets expensive at this scale:

Boxed wine is worth a look for large parties. A 3-liter box holds the same as four standard bottles, and the calculator shows how many boxes would replace the red and white bottles. Our best box wine guide compares the price per bottle of the big brands.

Which wines to buy

• Red: a medium-bodied, food-friendly red such as Pinot Noir or Merlot suits most menus. See our Merlot wine guide.
• White: a crisp white such as Sauvignon Blanc or Pinot Grigio works with appetizers and lighter food.
• Sparkling: Prosecco, Cava or Crémant cost less than Champagne and are easy to serve to a crowd.

Important: Serve water and non-alcoholic drinks alongside the wine, offer food throughout the party and make sure every guest has a safe way home. Never serve alcohol to anyone under 21.