Cocktail reception · quantities, split, budget
How much wine for a cocktail reception (apéritif dînatoire)?
A cocktail reception isn't a drinks reception before a meal: it lasts three hours, it replaces dinner, and people drink one bottle for two. For 40 people, count twenty or so bottles, white and sparkling first. The calculator does the count on your figures.
The calculation for your cocktail reception
Set for 40 guests standing over three hours, 80% drinking. A reception that starts at 7 pm and ends at 10 pm is three hours; one that “lasts as long as it lasts” is four.
Cocktail reception, drinks reception, corporate cocktail: three formats, three quantities
Drinks reception (vin d'honneur)
Comes before a meal. Two glasses in the first hour, one in the second. People keep room for dinner. Details on the drinks reception page.
Cocktail reception
Replaces the meal. Two glasses in the first hour, then one an hour: four glasses, two thirds of a bottle per drinker. Salty canapés make people drink.
Corporate cocktail
In between, with 75% drinkers: colleagues are driving. Dedicated page: corporate event.
What split between white, rosé, red and sparkling?
Standing up, people drink chilled. The default setting gives half sparkling, 30% white, 20% rosé, and no red. If the table is loaded with charcuterie and cheese, add a light red served cool for a fifth, taking it from the sparkling. A winter cocktail reception reverses the red and rosé proportions.
Do you need champagne all evening?
No, and it's the decision that weighs most on the budget. A flute on arrival for everyone, then white and rosé served continuously, and the sparkling comes back with dessert if there is one. Champagne over three hours doubles the bill; the same glass over the first twenty minutes makes the same impression.
How many canapés for the wine to go down well?
Twelve to fifteen pieces per person when the reception replaces dinner, six to eight when it comes before it. Below that, the wine goes faster than planned and the calculated quantities no longer hold. It's the only variable the calculator can't see: it assumes the guests eat.
And pairing with the food?
A cocktail reception is a menu in miniature: verrines, boards, mini skewers, cheeses. The food and wine pairing page reasons dish by dish; for a reception, go for one dry white that works with everything and a rosé everyone likes, rather than four wines you'll have to explain. If the table is mostly boards, the wine with charcuterie page says which light red to serve cool. For an engagement or a civil partnership, the engagement and PACS page does the same calculation with only three wines, half of it champagne.
From how many bottles is this calculation worth a quote?
Eighteen. Below that, your local wine shop does the job very well and saves you the delivery. Above it, the case price and delivery to the venue become worthwhile. The “Get a price” button only appears once the threshold is reached, and it leads to the quote request with your figures.
The classic mistakes
- Counting as for a drinks reception. An extra hour and no meal afterwards: that's a third more bottles, not the same order.
- Forgetting to chill. Twenty bottles of white and sparkling for 40 people means an ice tub the evening before, not the fridge door.
- Buying a wine for a meal. Standing, glass in hand, nobody really tastes a red for laying down. The budget goes on the white and the sparkling; the red stays simple.
- Buying generously “just in case”. Unopened cases are not taken back; the calculator's 8% margin is enough, and the wine shop next door can help out if you really run short.