Family · first communion, profession of faith
Wine for a first communion: the May lunch, quantities and budget
A communion means a spring lunch for 40, a table of teenagers who don't drink and adults who drive home. The calculator is set to 65% drinkers, an hour of aperitif and a meal. It gives about twenty bottles before margin, with white and rosé in the lead because it is May.
The calculation for the communion lunch
Set for 40 guests, an hour of aperitif on returning from Mass, a seated lunch, 65% drinkers. More drinkers than at a christening: the children are ten years old, not ten months, and there are fewer babies.
The May menu, and the wine that goes with it
For 40 guests and 26 drinkers. Orders of magnitude before margin; the calculator adds the margin and rounds up to the case.
| Moment | Bottles | The wine |
|---|---|---|
| Aperitif, one hour | ≈ 9 | Sparkling for the toast, a dry white Bordeaux, a rosé. It is mild, you are in the garden. |
| Starter | ≈ 4 | The dry white carries on. Asparagus, salmon, spring terrine: white goes with everything. |
| Main course | ≈ 7 | A supple red, a young Haut-Médoc or Saint-Émilion. With a late Easter lamb, see wine with lamb. |
| Cheese and dessert | ≈ 2 | The same red, then the morning's sparkling with the cake. No dedicated bottle. |
Total before margin: 22 bottles. The calculator shows 36 in four colours after margin and rounding; in three colours, 30. In May, rosé is not a whim: it replaces some of the red without anyone complaining.
How many bottles for a communion of 40 people?
About twenty before margin, 30 to 36 in full cases: six sparkling, a dozen white, a dozen red, and a case of rosé if you keep four colours. For another number, or two children taking communion in the same family, the general calculator redoes the count.
What wine budget for a communion?
From €250 for decent Bordeaux to €400 at a good level for 30 bottles, or €6–10 per guest, children included. It is a family meal, not a great-growth meal: a slightly better bottle for the grandparents' table, and simple, fresh wines for the rest.
What do the teenagers drink?
Soft drinks, and plenty of them: a litre a head over the day, plus water. The table of communicants and their cousins is the largest and the cheapest to serve in wine, provided you have planned for it. A decent fruit juice and a lemonade are worth more than one bottle of red too many.
How is it different from a christening?
A christening has babies, a mother who isn't drinking, and falls in any season; a communion has ten-year-olds, falls in May and is often eaten outdoors. The share of drinkers goes up from 60 to 65%, and white and rosé take the place of red. The christening wine page is set up for the other case. For a profession of faith, where the teenagers' table is bigger, the profession of faith wine page drops to 50% drinkers.
First communion mistakes
- A heavy red in May. At 25 °C in a garden, a tannic Médoc is undrinkable. A supple red served cool, or rosé.
- Sparkling for everyone at the toast. Twelve children out of forty: one flute in three stays full. Count the adults, and a sparkling juice for the communicants.
- Ordering late. May is the month of communions, weddings and long bank holiday weekends: deliveries take an extra week. Order at the end of April.
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