Corporate · official opening
Wine for an opening party: sparkling first, 100 guests, the press and clients
A shop opening, new offices, a site being inaugurated: 100 guests, a speech, a ribbon, two hours standing. Wine has a precise role there: the raised flute in the photo. Allow 54 bottles in cases, 36 of them sparkling. The rest of the page covers what makes an opening different from a drinks reception: the toast to be served all at once, the press, and the door open onto the street.
The numbers for your opening
Set for 100 guests, two hours, 80% drinking wine, and a split weighted towards sparkling: 70% sparkling, 30% dry white, no red or rosé. If the opening is only the speech and the toast, bring the duration down to one hour.
Three stages, and only one that counts
The calculator counts two glasses per drinker in the first hour and one in the second. On the ground, an opening breaks down differently:
Arrival
Journalists and the first clients arrive early. A glass of dry white or a flute in hand, they look around. That is where the white goes.
The toast
80 drinkers, seven 10 cl flutes per bottle: twelve bottles opened and served in five minutes, just as the ribbon is cut. You need three or four people serving, not one.
What follows
Guests stay another hour, talk business, have another glass. The sparkling carries on, and the white takes over for those who prefer it.
For 100 people standing, allow at least three serving staff and one flute per guest plus 5% for breakages: the exact count is on the glasses and staff page.
Champagne or crémant: what the photo shows
Across the 36 bottles of sparkling, the champagne question is worth about €700. At an opening, the bottle is in the frame: in the press photo, in the client's story. Three ways to decide:
| Option | Bottles | Sparkling budget | Who it suits |
|---|---|---|---|
| All champagne | 36 | ≈ €1,150 | A brand that sees itself as upmarket, press invited, important clients. |
| Champagne toast, crémant afterwards | 12 + 24 | ≈ €670 | The safest compromise: the flute in the photo is the right one, the following ones cost less. |
| All crémant | 36 | ≈ €430 | A neighbourhood opening, an audience of neighbours and partners. |
Champagne at the “good” level at €32 a bottle, crémant at €12 as a guide: crémant is available on request, and its price is confirmed in the quote. A personalised label with the brand's name is possible on request, lead time to be confirmed. For the toast alone, the table for 20, 50 or 100 people is on the champagne for 20, 50 or 100 page.
A door open onto the street
An opening by invitation is a reception: you know who is coming, and you count the replies, not the invitations. A shop that opens its door to every passer-by with unlimited free wine is another matter: the French public health code forbids offering unlimited free alcohol for commercial purposes. Serve by invitation, by the glass, with staff pouring, and ask your town hall (mairie) if you are unsure about your format.
On the invoice side, an opening with clients, partners and the press is the textbook example of a reception held in the company's interest: VAT on the wine is generally deductible, with an invoice in the company's name and the guest list. The details are on the VAT on wine page.
How many bottles for an opening with 100 people?
54 in cases of six: 36 sparkling and 18 dry white. That is 40 raw bottles for 80 drinkers over two hours, two glasses in the first hour then one, with an 8% margin and rounding up to full cases per colour. Over an hour and a half, it comes down to 42; over one hour, to 36.
How many bottles for the toast alone?
One 10 cl flute per person, seven flutes per bottle: 12 bottles for 80 drinkers, 15 if all 100 guests raise a flute. With the margin, three cases of champagne. Have a flute of juice or alcohol-free sparkling for those who don't drink: they are in the photo too.
What wine budget for an opening?
About €10 per guest incl. VAT for decent wines (€1,008 for 100), €14 at the “good” level (€1,404), €22 with a big-house champagne and a fine white (€2,196). Sparkling makes up most of the budget: switching the follow-on to crémant changes the bill more than the choice of white.
Do you need red wine at an opening?
No. Standing, in a brand-new space, with carpet laid the day before and freshly painted walls, red is the only wine that leaves a mark. And nobody asks for it at 11 am or 6 pm with cold canapés.
Opening party mistakes
- Counting invitations. 200 invitations sent do not make 200 guests. Count the replies, and add the plus-ones that the press and clients always bring.
- Pouring the flutes in advance. Flutes filled ten minutes before the speech are flat by the time of the toast. Open at the last moment, with several people.
- Delivering on the morning itself. A new space often has neither a storeroom nor a fridge. Have it delivered the day before, with a name and a phone number on site, and plan tubs of ice. Lead times and charges: delivery page, rates to be confirmed.
- Forgetting those who don't drink. Twenty guests in a hundred. Without a glass for them at the toast, the photo shows empty hands.
A gallery opening, a private view? The private view page starts from another principle: one white, small glasses. For your opening: ask for a business quote, reply within 48 working hours. Launching a product rather than a place? The product launch page starts from the presentation, not the ribbon.