How many bottles of wine for my party?

Today my friend called me, wanting some wine for his party. How many bottles do we need?

Before attempting to answer this question, we should ask ourselves the following : What kind of guests are attending the celebration? Are they young or old? Are they party animals? Moderate or binge drinkers? How many are men and how many are women? If they're people who just can't get enough of a good wine, then their consumption will be proportionally higher. Young people (18-27 years of age) will consume more than  older people i.e. 28+. If your guests are driving they will (or at least should) drink a lot less. Women drink less than men. One should consider the nationalities of your guests too. Generally speaking Spaniards drink less than northern Europeans. We should keep it simple when it comes to defining our type of drinkers in order to calculate the number: low, moderate or high consumers of wine. At what time and on which day of the week are we holding the event? If it's at lunch time or in the week, our guests will normally drink less as they have obligations such as work or family in the afternoon/early evening. If it´s in the evening for dinnner, people tend to increase their intake and if it's a Friday or Saturday even more so! If the event is after dinner, consumption should be more moderate since hunger and thirstiness should be sated and quenched respectively. This does however depend on the type of guests you are expecting and what each one has had for dinner.  And obvioulsy If it's a British Boys´ Stag Do, then most of what you're reading will not apply! Likewise if it's a Hen Night!That will require a different post in a world of its own! Will they be seated or standing most of the time? When you're sitting,  food consumption is higher and beverage and wine consumption lower. More food however means a higher consumption of wine so and although it seems contradictory, you really have to use common sense here as it will depend on how long guests are sitting down. Standing, one usually eats less and drinks a little more. What's the reason for the event? If it's a national holiday, Birthday etc. we must measure the degree of "happiness" in the air in order to get a feeling for the level of consumption. How many glasses does one get from a bottle of wine? If we take a 750ml bottle, we should be able to get between  6 and 8 glasses of wine, depending on the measures. If we were to fill the glasses to the rim, count 6. For Cava and  Champagne, glasses and measures are much smaller and we should be able to "extract" between 8 to 10 glasses from a 750ml bottle. How should I calculate? First of all we must consider the type of event, duration, guests and the time we are holding the party. Look at these examples: 40 people, during a weekday with moderate drinkers, 50% men, 50% women, between the ages of 28 and 45,  seated most of the time,  75% aren''t driving and they are extremely happy: Just for lunch: 1 glass of wine per person should be enough (providing they have other obligations in the afternoon) 40 people = 7 bottles (7 bot. x 6 = 42 glasses) 1 glass per person Dinner-Party: Calculate 2 - 3 glasses per person 40 people= 21 bottles (21 bot. x 6 = 126 glasses) 3.15 glasses per pers. Obviously it all depends and maybe in some cases the above criteria may need to be modified. It´s all down tothe type of guests you are expecting and also the mood of the event, but at least here are some pretty good guidelines in order not to get disappointed and find yourself short of merchandise. For lower wine consuming guests, reduce the amount by 25%, for higher consumption add 25% as a general rule of thumb. If you follow these rules you will not be far off and should there ever be any leftovers, use them for your own consumption, your family or friends after the event! Njoy...!