How much wine do I need for a party?

Buying wine for a party is arithmetic first and taste second. Do the maths and the rest is easy.

The numbers

A 750 ml bottle holds about five 5 ounce glasses. A 1.5 litre magnum holds ten. A 3 litre box holds twenty.

Plan on two glasses per guest in the first hour and one glass per hour after that. That is the standard planning figure and it holds up.

Twelve guests, three hours: about 48 glasses, which is ten bottles. Twenty guests, four hours: about 100 glasses, which is twenty bottles. Fifty guests, four hours: about 250 glasses, which is fifty bottles.

Always buy 10 to 15 percent more than the maths says. Unopened bottles keep; a party that runs dry does not recover.

The split

In warm weather, go roughly 60 percent white, sparkling and rosé, and 40 percent red. In cool weather, flip it. If it is a seated dinner, match the split to the menu instead.

For any party, sparkling should be 20 to 25 percent of the total. It goes with arrivals, with food, and with people who cannot decide.

What to buy

Choose crowd wines, not personal favourites. For white: pinot grigio, sauvignon blanc or unoaked chardonnay. For red: pinot noir, a soft red blend or a medium-bodied cabernet. For sparkling: prosecco or cava for volume, Champagne if it is a toast that matters. Dry rosé covers the middle.

Buy several bottles of a few wines rather than one bottle each of many. Variety sounds generous and creates confusion at the table.

Formats worth using

Magnums look better than two bottles and pour faster. Boxed wine is genuinely useful for large casual parties and stays fresh for weeks once opened. Canned wine is the right call for a pool, a tailgate or anywhere glass is a bad idea.

Ice and glassware

You need more ice than wine. Plan on a pound of ice per guest for chilling and serving. Fill a cooler or a clean bin with half ice and half water; a bottle chills in twenty minutes in ice water and takes an hour in ice alone.

One glass per guest plus a third extra covers breakage and abandonment. Universal wine glasses are fine for everything, including sparkling.

Serving temperatures

Sparkling 45 degrees. White and rosé 48 to 52. Light reds 58 to 60. Full reds 62 to 65. In a Mississippi summer, every red should spend twenty minutes in the fridge before it is poured.

Do not forget

Water, in a visible place. A non-alcoholic option that looks like a drink. A corkscrew for every station, because one always disappears. Something salty to eat, which slows everyone down.

Leftovers

Unopened bottles are the plan, not the accident. Opened white keeps three days in the fridge with a stopper, opened red two to three days, sparkling one day with a proper sparkling stopper.

Give us the headcount, the hours and the menu and we will size the order with you. Selection changes week to week, so call to confirm a specific bottle.