Merlot 101

How much wine--merlot and chardonnay--should I buy for a wedding reception?

We will have 150 guests, one keg of beer, also bar w/vodka, gin, rum, bourbon, and mixers.

Public Comments

1. 75 bottles, maybe 80. Figure one bottle for every two people. Some won't have any, others will drink more than their share. Just make sure not to uncork them all at once, open them as you need them, save the rest for later. You can probably make arrangements to return the unopened bottles to your wine merchant, but you may as well just keep them, the price will only go up and you'll drink it all eventually.
2. Well, your guests drinking habits. I love wine, alot for me. Oh, did I get an invite?
3. Well, I cannot give you an exact answer, but you answering the following questions should help you: 1) How many of your guests do you think will drink wine vs liquor or non-alcoholic beverages? 2) What food are you serving? (What type of wine will go best with the food) 3) Is the bar a cash bar or open bar? 4) Are you supplying your own beverages or will the reception hall supply the beverages (If you are supplying your own alcohol, it does not matter if you have too much, you can always keep the excess or even give some away to your guests) 5) How long is the reception/how long will people be drinking? To calculate how much wine you need the following may be usefull: There are approx. 60 glasses (6 and 2/3 fl oz size glass, average glass size ) of wine in a case of 12 x75cl bottles. Based on your answers to the above, here are some sites that can help you.
4. If wine is to be serve with supper you'd need about 50 bottles of wine. Each 750mL bottle holds about 6 glasses of wine. Most people will only have 1 or 2 glasses of wine with dinner. A liquor store should be able to provide you with this information. See if the place where you are getting your alcohol from will take back unopened bottles in case you want extra's just to be safe.