How Many Glasses of Wine in a Bottle?

A standard 750 ml bottle of wine gives you five glasses at the common 150 ml (5 oz) pour, or six glasses at 125 ml. Pour the 175 ml medium glass you get in many UK pubs and you will fill four, with a splash left over; pour 250 ml large glasses and the bottle is gone in three.

The answer shifts with the glass, the wine and the occasion, so this guide gathers the numbers people actually look for: ounces in a bottle, standard drinks and units at different strengths, flutes of Champagne, big bottle sizes, cases, and how many bottles to buy for 10 or 100 guests. Every figure is worked out from the bottle's 750 ml, so you can check the maths yourself.

How many glasses of wine in a bottle?

Everything starts from one number: a standard wine bottle holds 750 ml. Divide that by the size of your pour and you have your answer. A pour is simply the amount of wine that goes into the glass, not the size of the glass itself.

In the US, 5 oz (about 148 ml) is the textbook pour, and restaurants often serve 5 to 6 oz. In UK pubs and bars, wine by the glass is commonly sold as 125 ml small, 175 ml medium and 250 ml large, and licensed venues in England and Wales must offer the 125 ml size. That 250 ml large glass is a full third of a bottle, which surprises many people.

How many ounces in a bottle of wine?

A 750 ml bottle holds about 25.4 US fluid ounces. In UK imperial fluid ounces, which are slightly smaller, it is about 26.4. That is where the five-glass rule comes from: 25.4 ounces shared into 5 oz pours gives five glasses with a sliver to spare.

How many ml in a bottle of wine? Exactly 750 ml, which is the same as 75 cl, the figure you will often see printed on European labels. A half bottle holds 375 ml (about 12.7 US fl oz) and a magnum 1.5 litres (about 50.7 oz).

As for ounces in a glass of wine, a standard US pour is 5 oz. The UK sizes convert as follows: 125 ml is about 4.2 US fl oz, 175 ml about 5.9 oz and 250 ml about 8.5 oz.

How many standard drinks and units in a bottle of wine?

A glass and a standard drink are not the same thing. In the US, a standard drink is any drink containing 14 grams of pure alcohol, which works out at 5 oz of wine at 12% alcohol. A wine's strength is printed on the label as ABV, alcohol by volume: the percentage of the liquid that is alcohol. Our guide to wine alcohol content explains why some wines are stronger than others.

To work out the grams of alcohol in any wine, multiply the volume in millilitres by the ABV and then by 0.789, the weight of alcohol in grams per millilitre. A 750 ml bottle at 12% holds 750 × 0.12 × 0.789, about 71 grams, which is just over five standard drinks.

In the UK, alcohol is counted in units instead. One unit is 10 ml of pure alcohol, and the sum is simpler: millilitres × ABV ÷ 1,000. So a 750 ml bottle at 12% is 750 × 12 ÷ 1,000 = 9 units.

So a bottle of a big red at around 15%, such as Amarone or many a Barossa Shiraz, holds over six standard drinks, even though it still pours just five 150 ml glasses. Other countries define a standard drink differently: in Australia it is 10 grams of alcohol, so the same 12% bottle counts as about seven.

Glass size matters as much as strength. A 250 ml glass of 13.5% wine is about 3.4 units, while a 125 ml glass of the same wine is about 1.7. For the full picture, including the UK weekly guidelines, see how many units are in a bottle of wine, and if you are curious about energy as well as alcohol, the wine calories calculator works it out for your glass. Wine is for adults of legal drinking age and is best enjoyed in moderation, and knowing what is really in your glass makes that easier.

How many glasses of Champagne in a bottle?

Champagne and other sparkling wines come in the same 750 ml bottle, so the maths is the same: six glasses at 125 ml. In practice flutes are often poured a little smaller, around 100 ml, because a narrow flute fills quickly and the foam needs room to settle. At 100 ml a bottle gives seven glasses with a little left, and for a toast, where everyone gets a short pour of 90 to 100 ml, you can count on seven or eight.

Most Prosecco, Cava and Champagne sits between about 10.5 and 12.5% ABV, so a bottle carries roughly 8 to 9.5 UK units, or about 4.4 to 5.3 US standard drinks. Serve sparkling wine well chilled, at 6–10°C; the wine serving temperature guide covers every style.

Fizz is the style that fades fastest once opened. With a proper sparkling-wine stopper in the fridge it keeps some sparkle for a day or two; see how long open wine lasts for every style.

Wine bottle sizes and how many glasses each holds

Bigger bottles are multiples of the standard 750 ml, and many of their names come from Champagne, where they are traditionally borrowed from biblical kings and figures. Here is how they compare.

One name needs care. In Champagne and Burgundy a jeroboam is 3 litres. In Bordeaux the 3-litre bottle is called a double magnum, and jeroboam has traditionally meant a larger bottle of around 4.5 to 5 litres, while the 6-litre size there is usually called an imperial. If the volume matters, check the litres on the label rather than the name.

At the small end, you will also find quarter bottles (often called splits or piccolos) of 187.5 ml or 200 ml, especially for sparkling wine.

How many bottles in a case of wine?

A standard case holds 12 bottles of 750 ml, which is 9 litres of wine. That is 60 glasses at 150 ml or 72 at 125 ml. Many merchants also sell six-bottle cases, which hold 4.5 litres: 30 glasses at 150 ml or 36 at 125 ml.

If a case is going to sit for a while, keep it somewhere dark at a steady 12–13°C, with cork-sealed bottles lying on their sides. Our guide to wine storage temperature explains why steadiness matters more than the exact number.

How many bottles of wine for a party?

The planning rule used here is about half a bottle per wine-drinking guest over an evening. That is 375 ml each: two and a half 150 ml glasses, or three 125 ml glasses. For a long dinner, a wedding or a crowd that loves wine, use the generous column, which allows two-thirds of a bottle (500 ml, three to four glasses) per person. Bottle counts in that column are rounded up.

A few tips make the numbers work in real life:

• Count wine drinkers, not total guests. Leave out children, non-drinkers and anyone who will stick to beer or cocktails.
• Round up to whole cases. For 40 guests, 20 bottles fits inside two cases of 12, so buying two full cases gives you a small buffer.
• Split by the season and the menu. A common starting point is roughly half white or rosé and half red, with more white in summer and more red with a hearty winter meal. Our guide to types of wine helps you choose.
• Add fizz for a toast separately. At 90 to 100 ml per toast, one bottle of sparkling wine covers about seven or eight people, so 100 guests need around 12 to 14 bottles just for the toast.

How much to pour for dessert and fortified wine

Sweet and fortified wines are poured smaller, usually around 75 to 100 ml, because they are richer and, in the case of fortified wines, stronger. A fortified wine is one that has had extra grape spirit added. At those pour sizes a 750 ml bottle stretches to seven to ten glasses.

Many dessert wines, such as Sauternes, are sold in 375 ml half bottles, which give about four or five small pours. Serve sweet white wines chilled, at 6–10°C.

Port is usually around 19 to 22% ABV, so a 75 ml glass of 20% port is 1.5 UK units, the same as a 125 ml glass of 12% table wine. A dry fino sherry is usually around 15%.