| Pace | ½ of a 5.1 oz (150 ml) glass per person per hour if there will be other drinks, ¾ if wine goes with the meal and 1 if it is the main drink. It is an assumption for working out the purchase, not a measure of safe drinking: the WHO (2023) says there is no amount of alcohol that does not affect health. We never assume more than 5.1 oz (150 ml) per person per hour. |
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| Hours that count | The first 3 in full; until hour 6, at half; afterwards, at a quarter: 4 hours count as 3.5; 6 hours, as 4.5; 10 hours, as 5.5. The meal fits in the first hours; then come water, coffee, dancing or the way home. |
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| Glasses and bottles | The pace is counted in 5.1 oz (150 ml) glasses (or 4.2 oz (125 ml) if you choose the smaller glass) and each style is poured in its own glass. Arithmetic on 25.4 oz (750 ml): 5 glasses of 5.1 oz (150 ml), 6 flutes of 4.2 oz (125 ml) and 10 small glasses of 2.5 oz (75 ml) for sweet and fortified wines. Sweet wine is bought in half bottles of 12.7 oz (375 ml): 5 small glasses each; it is counted and rounded in half bottles, apart from the 25.4 oz (750 ml) bottles and the cases. |
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| Margin | 10% so you do not run short (extra guests or a faulty bottle), once, on the total, which is then shared out by style. You can remove it or raise it to 15%. Ask the winery whether it takes back unopened bottles. |
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| Welcome drink | The first 45 minutes are poured in the welcome drink’s style (with wine at the meal, about 2.8 oz (84 ml) per person: ⅔ of a flute). It is within the total: it adds no glasses. |
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| Toast | Half a glass, 2.5 oz (75 ml), of sparkling wine per person who drinks wine, taken from the time after the meal. Just one, before dessert; it adds no glasses. |
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| Moments | Starter, second course and dessert, 30 min; main course, 45 min; the rest is time after the meal. If they do not fit, they shrink and leave a fifth of the event free. |
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| Mix with a menu | Each course is poured in the type of the style the pairing wheel chose, or the one you choose among its “Ideal” and “Very good”. The time after the meal keeps to the styles already poured, without the sweet wine. |
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| Mix without a menu | ½ red, ⅓ white and ⅙ rosé; in hot weather, equal thirds; in cold weather, ⅔ red. If you remove styles, it is shared among the ones left. Weather changes the mix, not the amount. |
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| Without meal courses | With finger food or snacks: “Wine goes with the meal” does not apply and the pace stays at ¾ at most, even if wine is the main drink. The page suggests something to eat and water. |
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| Water | One 8.5 oz (250 ml) glass of purified water per person per hour, for everyone, whether they drink wine or not; in gallons, liters and 20-liter jugs. A planning assumption, not a rule. |
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| Cases | By total, of 12 or 6, with the breakdown by style. Ask the winery whether it can put together mixed cases. |
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| Glassware | With white and red at the table, two wine glasses per person who drinks wine (or one that is changed between courses); otherwise, one. A flute if there is sparkling wine, a small glass if there is sweet wine and a water glass per person. Fewer if they are washed during the event. |
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