Business · back-to-work drinks · September
Wine for back-to-work drinks: fifty colleagues, twenty bottles, and the gift season getting under way
Everyone is back, the weather is still fine, and you get together for an hour and a half on the terrace at 6 pm. For fifty people, 20 bottles, mostly white and rosé: a local wine shop or the supermarket wine fair will do, and this page tells you so. What really matters in September is the other file: year-end gifts, which are chosen now and ordered before 20 November.
The numbers for your back-to-work drinks
Set for 50 people, an hour and a half standing, 85% drinkers, and an end-of-summer split: 35% white, 35% rosé, 30% sparkling. Forty-two and a half drinkers, two and a half glasses each: 106 glasses, nearly 18 bottles before margin. With the 8% margin, rounded to the bottle, the calculator shows 20: 7 white, 7 rosé, 6 sparkling. Below 24 bottles, it tells you that you don't need us.
What people drink in September
Back-to-work drinks are neither a party nor a meal: people swap summer stories, glass in hand, and go home for dinner. Fresh, simple wines, served without ceremony.
The white
A dry white Bordeaux, Sauvignon-led, served at 8 °C. It is the wine of September terraces, and the one that goes fastest.
The rosé
A Bordeaux rosé, or a clairet, deeper in colour and fruitier, which people in Bordeaux drink in the warm months. At 10 °C, no colder.
The sparkling
For the boss's few words, if there are any. Champagne or crémant, on request; if there is no speech, put them towards the white.
At the “good” level, the calculator prices these 20 bottles at €374, or €7 per person; at the “decent” level, €256. The twenty bottles fit in a single 100-litre tub with 12 kg of ice: twenty minutes before the start. In September, the supermarket wine fairs are on, and for drinks at work they are enough; the wine merchant, wine shop, supermarket or producer page says honestly when each one is right.
Back to work opens the gift season
Back-to-work drinks are the last event of the year that can be prepared without a calendar. From October, everything to do with year-end wine has a deadline, and every week lost narrows the choice.
| When | What | Why now |
|---|---|---|
| September | List of clients and employees to treat, budget per gift | The €73 VAT threshold per client and the URSSAF (social contributions) ceiling per employee are decided before choosing the wine. |
| October | Quote, choice of wines, custom labels on request | Sought-after vintages go first; a label takes several weeks. |
| Before 15 November | Firm order for works council (CSE) boxes and gifts | Grouped delivery in early December, before carriers are overloaded. |
| Before 20 November | Last date for shipping to several addresses | After that, a parcel to a home address is no longer guaranteed before Christmas. |
The budget and VAT calculation is on the year-end client gifts page; for employees, wine gifts for employees and works council (CSE) gift boxes. The December countdown, worked out from your date, is on the festive season: when to order page.
How many bottles for back-to-work drinks for 50 people?
Twenty, margin included, for an hour and a half: 7 white, 7 rosé, 6 sparkling. As a raw count, just under eighteen. For one hour only, 17. The general calculator redoes the count for a different headcount.
Do you need a wine merchant for back-to-work drinks?
No. Twenty bottles means a local wine shop, a good supermarket aisle or the wine fair. A quote becomes useful if the drinks bring several sites together, or if you use the return to work to prepare year-end gifts: it is the only autumn purchase where the choice shrinks over time.
Who pays for back-to-work drinks?
Usually the company, on an invoice in its name: it is a reception held in its interest, and the VAT on the wine is recovered on the usual terms. The rules for company purchases are on the corporate event page.
When should year-end gifts be ordered?
Choose in October, order before 15 November for a grouped delivery, and before 20 November at the latest for shipping to several addresses. Wine does not spoil in a closed case over two months, and the price does not go up in December: ordering early has only advantages.
September mistakes
- Rounding each colour up to the case. Six sparkling, twelve white, twelve rosé: 30 bottles for eighteen needed, and a case of rosé waiting for next summer at the back of the office. Here, you count by the bottle.
- Red on a terrace at 25 °C. It warms up in the glass within ten minutes. If you need some, a light red served cool, at 14 °C.
- Forgetting those driving home. A proper soft drink and sparkling water next to the white, no comment. The wine and drivers page counts the soft drinks.
- Putting the gifts off until December. Back-to-work drinks are the right moment to raise it at a meeting. In December, you take what is left.
The drinks and the year-end gifts in the same conversation: request a quote, reply within 48 working hours.