A standard 750 mL bottle of wine holds five glasses. That is the short answer, and it rests on two numbers: the bottle is 25.36 fluid ounces, and the standard US serving of wine is 5 ounces, so 25.36 divided by 5 is 5.07. Pour 6 ounces and you get four glasses. Pour 4 and you get six. Here is the math for every bottle size and pour, how many standard drinks are in a bottle at different alcohol levels, how many bottles to buy for a party, calories per glass, and where the bottle sizes and serving figures come from.
Last verified September 13, 2026. Bottle sizes are from 27 CFR 4.72, labeling rules from 27 CFR 4.36, serving and standard-drink figures from NIAAA and CDC, calories from USDA FoodData Central, large-format names from Wine Enthusiast and Wine Folly. Full list at the end.
| A 750 mL bottle of wine | Figure |
|---|---|
| Volume | 750 mL (25.36 US fl oz) |
| Glasses at 5 oz (the NIAAA and CDC serving) | 5 |
| Glasses at 6 oz | 4 |
| Glasses at 4 oz | 6 |
| Standard drinks at 12% ABV | 5.1 |
| Standard drinks at 14% ABV | 5.9 |
| Calories, red table wine (USDA) | 125 per 5 oz glass, about 625 per bottle |
| Calories, white table wine (USDA) | 121 per 5 oz glass, about 605 per bottle |
| Bottles in a case | 12 (9 liters, 60 glasses) |
Why 5 ounces is the standard glass
The 5-ounce glass is not a restaurant convention that happened to catch on. It is the federal definition of a serving. NIAAA and CDC define one standard drink as 0.6 fluid ounces (14 grams) of pure alcohol, and give the wine example as a 5-ounce glass at 12 percent alcohol by volume: 5 x 0.12 = 0.6. NIAAA’s own container chart lists a 750 mL bottle of 12 percent table wine as 5 drinks.
Restaurants are free to pour what they like; no US law sets a pour size. Wine Spectator puts the standard pour at about 5 ounces (150 mL), and Wine Folly notes that while a 6-ounce pour is typical, many establishments prefer 5 ounces because it yields five glasses per bottle instead of four. So when someone tells you a bottle holds four glasses, they are pouring 6 ounces.
Glasses per bottle by size and pour
Federal rules (27 CFR 4.72) allow 25 wine bottle sizes from 50 mL to 3 L, plus anything larger in whole liters. These are the sizes you will actually meet. Fluid ounces are mL divided by 29.5735, and glasses are ounces divided by the pour.
| Bottle | Size | Fluid ounces | 4 oz glasses | 5 oz glasses | 6 oz glasses |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Split or piccolo | 187 mL | 6.32 | 1.6 | 1.3 | 1.1 |
| Half bottle or demi | 375 mL | 12.68 | 3.2 | 2.5 | 2.1 |
| Half liter | 500 mL | 16.91 | 4.2 | 3.4 | 2.8 |
| Standard | 750 mL | 25.36 | 6.3 | 5.1 | 4.2 |
| Liter | 1 L | 33.81 | 8.5 | 6.8 | 5.6 |
| Magnum | 1.5 L | 50.72 | 12.7 | 10.1 | 8.5 |
| Double magnum | 3 L | 101.44 | 25.4 | 20.3 | 16.9 |
| Case of 12 standard bottles | 9 L | 304.3 | 76 | 61 | 51 |
A split is a quarter bottle and holds one generous glass. A half bottle is two and a half glasses. A magnum is exactly two bottles, and a double magnum is four.
Wine glasses in a bottle calculator
Pick a bottle size and a pour and the calculator does the division.
Wine Glasses in a Bottle Calculator
The bottle sizes in the calculator are 187 mL (split or piccolo), 375 mL (half bottle), 750 mL (standard), 1.5 L (magnum), 3 L (double magnum) and 5 L and up (large formats). The pour sizes are 3 oz (a tasting pour), 5 oz (the standard glass) and 7 oz (a generous pour).
Standard drinks in a bottle by alcohol level
Five glasses is only five standard drinks when the wine is 12 percent alcohol. Many wines are labeled 13 to 15 percent, and the label is allowed to be off by a margin (see below), so the drink count in a bottle moves with the ABV. The formula: standard drinks = (mL x ABV) / 17.74, because 0.6 fl oz of pure alcohol is 17.74 mL. Per glass it is (5 x ABV) / 0.6.
| ABV on the label | Pure alcohol in 750 mL | Standard drinks per bottle | Standard drinks per 5 oz glass | Standard drinks per magnum |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 11% | 82.5 mL (2.79 oz) | 4.7 | 0.92 | 9.3 |
| 12% | 90 mL (3.04 oz) | 5.1 | 1.00 | 10.1 |
| 13% | 97.5 mL (3.30 oz) | 5.5 | 1.08 | 11.0 |
| 13.5% | 101 mL (3.42 oz) | 5.7 | 1.13 | 11.4 |
| 14% | 105 mL (3.55 oz) | 5.9 | 1.17 | 11.8 |
| 15% | 112.5 mL (3.80 oz) | 6.3 | 1.25 | 12.7 |
| 16% | 120 mL (4.06 oz) | 6.8 | 1.33 | 13.5 |
Put the pour and the ABV together and “one glass is one drink” stops being true fast. A 6-ounce pour of a 14.5 percent wine is 6 x 0.145 / 0.6 = 1.45 standard drinks.
What the label is allowed to say about alcohol
Under 27 CFR 4.36, wines over 14 percent alcohol must state their alcohol content. At 14 percent or below the statement is optional if the label carries the words “table wine” or “light wine,” which is why some bottles print no percentage at all. The stated figure also comes with a tolerance: a wine labeled 14 percent or less may actually be up to 1.5 percentage points higher or lower, and a wine labeled above 14 percent may be off by 1 point either way. A bottle marked 12.5 percent can legally hold anything from 11 to 14 percent, which in drink terms is anywhere from 4.7 to 5.9 standard drinks.
How many bottles for a party
Bottles needed = (guests x glasses per guest) / 5, rounded up. That is the whole formula. Some worked examples at the 5-ounce pour:
| Guests | Glasses each | Glasses total | Bottles (750 mL) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 4 | 2 | 8 | 2 |
| 8 | 2 | 16 | 4 |
| 10 | 2 | 20 | 4 |
| 12 | 3 | 36 | 8 |
| 20 | 3 | 60 | 12 (one case) |
| 50 | 2 | 100 | 20 |
If you are pouring 6 ounces, divide by 4 instead of 5. If beer and cocktails are also on offer, the wine goes further. Magnums make sense once you pass a dozen guests: one magnum replaces two bottles and there is one cork to pull.
Large-format bottles and their names
Anything bigger than a double magnum is a party bottle, and the names come mostly from biblical kings. The US rule for anything over 3 L is that it must be filled in whole liters (4, 5, 6 and so on), so the 4.5 L sizes in the table are Bordeaux and Champagne formats you will see abroad more than on a US shelf. Glass counts use 5 glasses per 750 mL.
| Name | Liters | Standard bottles | 5 oz glasses | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Magnum | 1.5 | 2 | 10 | |
| Double magnum | 3 | 4 | 20 | Called a Jeroboam for sparkling wine |
| Jeroboam (Bordeaux) or Rehoboam (Champagne) | 4.5 | 6 | 30 | Not a US standard of fill |
| Methuselah or Imperial | 6 | 8 | 40 | Imperial is the Bordeaux name |
| Salmanazar | 9 | 12 | 60 | One case in one bottle |
| Balthazar | 12 | 16 | 80 | |
| Nebuchadnezzar | 15 | 20 | 100 | |
| Melchior | 18 | 24 | 120 | Sources disagree on whether Solomon is 18 or 20 L |
| Sovereign | 26 | 35 | 175 | |
| Primat or Goliath | 27 | 36 | 180 | |
| Melchizedek or Midas | 30 | 40 | 200 |
Calories in a glass of wine
USDA FoodData Central lists red table wine (FDC ID 173190) at 85 calories per 100 grams and white table wine (FDC ID 174837) at 82. A 5-ounce glass weighs about 147 grams, so that is 125 calories for red and 121 for white, or roughly 625 and 605 per bottle. Sweeter and higher-alcohol wines have more calories per glass, because both sugar and alcohol carry calories; the producer’s own figures are the only reliable source for a specific bottle.
Where the bottle sizes come from
The United States adopted metric wine bottles in 1974 (T.D. ATF-12), before spirits went metric in 1980, and 750 mL has been the standard wine bottle ever since. It is also the standard in the EU and UK, whose still-wine sizes run 100, 187, 250, 375, 500, 750, 1,000 and 1,500 mL. The US list has grown twice recently. On December 29, 2020, TTB added 200, 250 and 355 mL, which is what made the 12-ounce wine can legal. On January 10, 2025, it added 13 more, including 473 mL (16 oz) and 568 mL (19.2 oz) cans and 700 mL.
Frequently asked questions
How many glasses are in a bottle of wine? Five at the standard 5-ounce pour, four at 6 ounces, six at 4 ounces.
How many ounces are in a bottle of wine? 25.36 fluid ounces in a 750 mL bottle. Many sites round to 25.4.
How many glasses are in a magnum? Ten at 5 ounces. A magnum is 1.5 L, exactly two standard bottles.
Is a glass of wine one standard drink? Only at 5 ounces and 12 percent alcohol. A 5-ounce glass of 14 percent wine is 1.17 standard drinks; a 6-ounce glass of the same wine is 1.4.
How many bottles of wine are in a case? Twelve 750 mL bottles, 9 liters, 60 glasses. The 12-bottle case is a trade convention, not a regulation.
How many glasses are in a half bottle? Two and a half at 5 ounces. A 375 mL half bottle is 12.68 ounces.
How much wine is in a tasting pour? The ISO tasting standard (ISO 3591) specifies 50 mL, about 1.7 ounces, poured into a 215 mL glass.
Sources
- 27 CFR 4.72, Metric standards of fill for wine (eCFR), checked September 13, 2026
- 27 CFR 4.36, Alcoholic content (eCFR), checked September 13, 2026
- T.D. TTB-165, December 29, 2020 (200, 250 and 355 mL wine sizes added), checked September 13, 2026
- T.D. TTB-200, January 10, 2025 (13 wine sizes added), checked September 13, 2026
- NIAAA, What is a standard drink and drinks in common containers, checked September 13, 2026
- CDC, Standard drink sizes, checked September 13, 2026
- NIST Handbook 44, Appendix C (fluid ounce conversion), checked September 13, 2026
- Wine Spectator, What’s the proper way to pour wine (2021) and Who decides the volume of a glass of wine at a restaurant (2013), checked September 13, 2026
- Wine Folly, Wine by the glass and Guide to wine bottle sizes, checked September 13, 2026
- Wine Enthusiast, Your cheat sheet to wine bottle sizes (updated June 6, 2023), checked September 13, 2026
- ISO 3591:1977, Sensory analysis, wine-tasting glass, checked September 13, 2026
- USDA FoodData Central, red table wine (FDC 173190) and white table wine (FDC 174837), checked September 13, 2026
- Directive 2007/45/EC (EU bottle sizes) and UK SI 2009/663, checked September 13, 2026
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