Family · silver, pearl, golden anniversary
Wine for a wedding anniversary: the quantities, and the vintage from the year
Twenty-five, thirty, fifty years married: a family lunch for 40, a short aperitif, and a bottle at the centre of the table that is as old as the marriage. The calculator sorts out the party; the second half of the page sorts out the bottle.
The calculation for the lunch
Set for 40 guests, a one-hour aperitif, a seated lunch, 80% drinkers. A gathering of three generations: lower the share of drinkers if there are lots of grandchildren.
The bottle from the wedding year
That is the real subject of the day. Not the 36 bottles for lunch, which take a minute to work out, but the one opened at dessert with the words “it's as old as we are”. In Bordeaux, the question is simple: is the year still drinking? The answer depends on the vintage more than on the age.
| Anniversary | Wedding year | The Bordeaux vintage | What to open |
|---|---|---|---|
| Silver, 25 years | 2001 | A good year, in the shadow of 2000. The great wines drink well, the others are at their limit. | A 2001 classified growth, or a 2000 right next door if you want the great year. |
| Pearl, 30 years | 1996 | A great year on the Left Bank. The Médocs are holding up, the Right Bank wines are more tired. | A 1996 Médoc from a seller who knows the provenance. |
| Ruby, 40 years | 1986 | A great year, tannic, made to last. Still findable at reasonable prices. | A 1986 Pauillac or Saint-Julien. The easiest decade. |
| Golden, 50 years | 1976 | Heatwave and harvest rains. The wines are tired, apart from a few great ones. | A neighbouring 1975 or 1978, or a magnum from a safe vintage with the year 1976 on the card. |
| Diamond, 60 years | 1966 | A great classic year. Magnums still exist and are drinking. | A 1966 magnum, opened after standing upright for 48 h, decanted for twenty minutes. |
The birth-year vintage tool gives the verdict for any year from 1945 to 2010, with the price range and the alternative. It works for a wedding year too.
How many bottles for a wedding anniversary of 40 people?
A one-hour aperitif and a lunch for 32 drinkers: 27 raw bottles, 36 with the margin and rounding up to full cases per colour, of which about a dozen red, as many white, a case of sparkling and one of rosé. With three colours instead of four, you stay at 30. The general calculator redoes the count for another number or for a dinner.
What budget for the party and for the bottle?
Lunch for 40 costs €300 to €500 in wine at standard to good Bordeaux level. The bottle from the wedding year costs from €40 for an average year to €300 and more for a great growth from a great year. The ratio is often one to one: half the budget for one bottle, and nobody finds it excessive. To give without getting it wrong, see which wine to give.
What if the wedding year is a bad one?
Don't force it. A tired 1976 opened in front of 40 people is an awkward moment. Three solutions: the neighbouring year when it is a great one, a magnum from a safe vintage with the wedding year written on the table card, or the birth year of one of the couple. The page wine for a 50th birthday deals with the 1976 case in detail. To repeat the ceremony in front of sixty guests, the vow renewal page counts both the party and the bottle.
How do you serve a 40- or 50-year-old bottle?
Standing upright for 48 hours beforehand so the sediment settles, at 16 or 17 °C, opened with a two-prong cork puller if possible, decanted for twenty minutes at most. An old Bordeaux opens quickly and fades quickly: taste it as soon as it is uncorked, serve it within half an hour, and don't leave it waiting at the bottom of a glass.
Lunch and the bottle, on a single quote: quote request, reply within 48 working hours.