Wine

AckwelFoley

We are buying the wine ourselves. The hotel are not charging corkage so its cheaper to buy the wine ourselves. How much wine would your think we would need for 170ish guests?

What proportion red v's white?

Where would you buy it?

kandr10

Hi,

We were looking at doing the same and most places recommended half bottle per person and half red half white. You could get the hotel to do the pouring rather than leaving bottles on table so that all bottles are used up and they can judge how many of each to open. As regards where to buy, a lot of people told me to go up north but if you look in the likes of o briens you can get decent deals on a few boxes. Straffan wines in kildare seem to do good deals too. Just price around. Hope that helps!

AckwelFoley

kandr10 wrote: »

Hi,

We were looking at doing the same and most places recommended half bottle per person and half red half white. You could get the hotel to do the pouring rather than leaving bottles on table so that all bottles are used up and they can judge how many of each to open. As regards where to buy, a lot of people told me to go up north but if you look in the likes of o briens you can get decent deals on a few boxes. Straffan wines in kildare seem to do good deals too. Just price around. Hope that helps!

Thanks!

The hotel are doing the pouring for us thankfully.
Im not sure 50 /50 red and white is the best though, alot of people are saying 60 / 40 in favour of white ??

kandr10

Yeah I'd have thought you'd get more white than red drinkers alright myself. Was just the restaurant told us 50/50. That's great that they'll look after pouring cos gives you much more control. Fair play getting it for nothing too!

amacachi

I would've thought a little more white than red, 60-65 white. I hate white but it seems way more common for people to much prefer white to red, then later they'll drink whatever's there. :pac:

SSFG

My sis bought wine from Harvest off licence and they let them bring back the boxes that were not used therefore you only pay for what you use!!
I think they got more white that red it seems thats what people prefer, then again maybe it depends on what is on the menu, personally that sometimes influences what type of wine I drink! Just a thought hope its helpful.

Ginny

Is it a summer wedding or winter?
What main are you having?
We've been told 1/2 bottle per person and either 60/40 or 70/30 White/Red depending on when wedding is and what ts being served with.

How Strange

We got our wine in superquinn. We shopped around but wanted an old world rather than new world wine and as SQ serm to do a lot of French wines we got a pretty decent red and white for €7 a bottle.

I think we went 60/40 white to red. We allowed half a bottle per person and we had loads left over. Our caterers poured the wine rather than leaving them on the table.

Madame Razz

If you're anywhere near Galway, Cases wine warehouse is worth a look, they are very knowledgeable, will give you very good advice, have very good prices, and will deliver for free. They also have a very good reputation from the hotel's point of view, they always like to see wine coming from Cases as they know it'll be decent, and the staff won't get a hard time about the wine being awful at the wedding meal.

BC

How much you need and what the percentage depends on lots of different things like your guests tastes, the weather, the menu etc etc.
Best bet is to buy plenty of extra wine that you can return if/when its not used. Most off licences will allow you to do this.

We had 150 guests, we used 74 bottles and it was 50/50 red/white for a summer wedding with both beef & fish as main courses.

AckwelFoley

BC wrote: »

We had 150 guests, we used 74 bottles and it was 50/50 red/white for a summer wedding with both beef & fish as main courses.

Fish is certainly not on the menu.

If there is sight or smell of a fish within a 50 foot radius of her it brings about projectile vomiting.

I love fish

aviendha

as with above posters, depends on the clientele and the weather...

we had a scorcher of a day in June, 215 guests, used 99 bottles of white and 38 bottles of red.. normally a 60:40 white:red is recommended, with a half-bottle per person plenty for normal guestlist..

you can get some great wine offers in Tesco/Supervalu/O'Briens depending on the timing.... we got a great Supervalu deal but had people all over the country picking up bottles for us as there was a limit to number of bottles per person

and to be honest, most people will choose their wine regardless of what is on the menu, many white wine drinkers will drink white even if they're eating rare filet mignon

best of luck!

bytheglass

I used to work in a big wine shop & general rule was 1/2 bottle per guest, & 60:40 white:red, you won't go wrong.

si_guru

What's your meal? Fish... you need more white. Personally I only drink red... at our wedding we had 50:50 and drank 80 (just slightly more white) bottles between 154 people.

Check your hotel don't have a decent deal on wine in these hard times. I saw one in the paper recently doing wine for only €10 a bottle.

Tesco do discount for wine I think on every 6 bottles you buy.

judas101

I would have thought that you'd go through more than half a bottle per person.

I'd say it very much depends on the average ages of the guests too.

RentDayBlues

We got 36 bottles of red and 36 white for about 100 guests, thats 288 glasses or just over half bottle per person. We got ours from Molloys just before Christmas as they had a lot of special offers but they still gave us an extra discount. Delivered in 2 days - great service

Mr. Presentable

It depends on the meal to a good extent. Normally I would go 60/40 white to red, but you might consider 50/30/20 white/red/rose. As a former caterer, I observe there are fewer red drinkers because more women drink wine than men and women prefer white. Also I note that if there is a nice rose/zinfandell they'll drink that like lemonade.

Your local off licence or even supermarket should be able to offer a use or return on the wine, so that in the unlikely event you have leftovers you are not out of pocket. Budget 1/3rd bottle per guest as you will find some guests not drinkers, others not wine drinkers and aunties who'll only have a sip.

Are you using wine for the toast, or a champagne/prosecco?

soon2Bmrs

Going to keep an eye on this thread. Getting married in August buying in wine for the meal. There are 73 meal guests - how many bottles would i need? Havent a clue about these things and could anyone recommend a cheap but nice red/white?

AckwelFoley

Mr. Presentable wrote: »

Are you using wine for the toast, or a champagne/prosecco?

Not sure, perhaps Champagne at the top table for the wedding party and wine for the rest?

magneticimpulse

I would buy it direct from France. When is your Wedding? If its not for a while yet, I would recommend a trip to Bordeaux and then a trip to St. Emillion (as in May they have open doors to all the Chateux's) and you can try the wine and buy the wine at Factory prices.

A bottle of Red St.Emillion there could be 7 to 14 euro a bottle. Whereas in Ireland it could be 50 euro a bottle.
http://www.saint-emilion-tourisme.com/uk/agenda.html?m=5&id=121

You also cannot go wrong with a Medoc wine. I think their Portes Ouvertes (open doors) is around April time.
http://www.medoc-bordeaux.com/User/news.aspx?lang=EN&menuOuvert=0


I also might add

Bordeaux Region:
2000 Exceptional Year Vintage Score: 99
2005 Spectacular Vintage Score: 97

With even better news that 2009 and 2010 getting rave reviews. If you are to have lovely wine for such a special day. I would take advantage of the Bordeaux 2009/2010 vintage. Since it is a young wine, the costs is still really really cheap!!! However in some years time...these years will be top money.

None of the off-licence's in Ireland or Northern Ireland stock anything like this. And you will get really ripped off and overcharged. If you dont travel...I would recommend Lidl!!! You might laugh, but they had some 2005 St Emillion over the Christmas period. Another option is to buy crates direct from the suppliers in France?? (or spain or Italy...depending on your tastes and what you like). Or if you have some time...drive over via Roscroff and even the Supermarkets sell ok bottles of French wine for 3 euro a bottle. This is better around October time after the havasting season for better selection or values. But I also got some great deals in the supermarket over the summer and not knowing much about wine myself, every bottle tasted fantastic (this would not be the case in Ireland)

If you do push the boat out...I recommend Chateau Brown from Pessac-Leognan (their open Chateau is around 7th of December each year).
http://www.chateau-brown.com/

As for what people are drinking?? Red/White or Rose? Well 1st it depends on what you are eating. Of course red meats, fatty food would be red wine and then fish dishes white wine. Some cheese plates...red wine. Fruity sorts of summer dishes you can have rose. Someone suggested women would mainly drink white wine??? I think it depends what type of guests you are bringing and where they are from. A good white wine is tricky to get right, whereas the quality of red I think is easier to pin point. You can definitely tell a good red wine, without much knowledge in wine. But flavours of white wine are different for everyone...like a dry wine for dinner, or a dessert wine for afters?? I think there is less hassle with red wine (once its aired before drinking then its fine)...white wine and rose you have to keep chilled etc.

I would have to say alot of my friends would prefer red wine...i think peoples tastes in Ireland have changed. Alot of people are now fond of Rioja's, Sicilia (I like Cantine Colosi) and French wines, more so then some new world wine.

Maybe another thing to look out for is a French Weekend on in the RDS or Hospitality Expo's. Im not sure of the exact name, but I know my family go every year and end up chatting to lots of French people over in Dublin, trying to promote France, Food and Culture and they might also be a source to some wine???

donalg1

For 170 guests you would want 51 Red and 77 White, was at a wedding last year and they used the same calculation as i did for the above figures and there was an abundance of wine, every guest commented on how they had never been to a wedding with as much wine and they all loved it. Was at another wedding last year also and they served two glasses one when we sat down and the other about an hour later, wasnt overly pleased about it and neither were most of the guests, the bride and groom did notice it too, but they said there was loads more bottles unopened so was the hotels fault, but my advice get more than you need because guests will notice if you scrimp on wine. I am getting married next year and will be using the above calculation so plan on having enough for 0.75 bottle per person.

BC

donalg1 wrote: »

For 170 guests you would want 51 Red and 77 White, was at a wedding last year and they used the same calculation as i did for the above figures and there was an abundance of wine, every guest commented on how they had never been to a wedding with as much wine and they all loved it. Was at another wedding last year also and they served two glasses one when we sat down and the other about an hour later, wasnt overly pleased about it and neither were most of the guests, the bride and groom did notice it too, but they said there was loads more bottles unopened so was the hotels fault, but my advice get more than you need because guests will notice if you scrimp on wine. I am getting married next year and will be using the above calculation so plan on having enough for 0.75 bottle per person.

Depends on your guests, the meal, even the weather.

We had 150 guests and used 34 red and 34 white. We had brought 45 red and 45 white so it wasn't as if it ran out and people had to drink red/white cos it's all that was left, it's just what people wanted. According to the wait staff, a lot of people who started drinking white with the started switched to red for the main course, that came down to their menu choices I think (it was fish/steak for main).

silly

We are getting our wine at curiouswines.ie
They are based in cork and very helpful, they will deliver to your venue and they will take back bottles you don't use.

For 140 guests I am getting 72 bottles, roughly 30 red 42 White.

It's costing €6.57 per bottle as I am collecting them myself. It would be € 6.99 otherwise which is still a good price.

Beruthiel

AckwelFoley
I know a Frenchman living in Maynooth. He imports wine from certain vineyards in France and sells it from his house. Legit. He supplied wine for my wedding and also a friends wedding. Top notch wines for great prices.
Drop me a PM if you want to contact him.

Gatica

could you PM me his details please?

Also, I notice most people recommend more white than red wine. Most weddings I've been to were actually the other way around, the last one in fact was 80% red, 20 white.
We're planning on getting 70% of each (the overlap is necessary in case it swings one way or another).

AckwelFoley

Beruthiel wrote: »

AckwelFoley
I know a Frenchman living in Maynooth. He imports wine from certain vineyards in France and sells it from his house. Legit. He supplied wine for my wedding and also a friends wedding. Top notch wines for great prices.
Drop me a PM if you want to contact him.

Thanks B, however we got married in July so we are all sorted. In the end we went up north back in Jan or Feb and bought Arniston bay from ASDA, essentially it worked about 4 quid a bottle

Gatica wrote: »

could you PM me his details please?

Also, I notice most people recommend more white than red wine. Most weddings I've been to were actually the other way around, the last one in fact was 80% red, 20 white.
We're planning on getting 70% of each (the overlap is necessary in case it swings one way or another).

More white than red everytime.. i was told that white would be more popular even though i prefer red, and yes even though we went 60/40 in favour of white we still had red left over.

HairMonster

For red/white, I agree that you should consider the food - I always choose depending on what I'm going to eat. And more white for summer is a good idea.

I'm very glad I read this thread... I'd have gone 50/50 or even a larger proportion of red, as there are definitely more red drinkers among my friends. It never occurred to me that in general there would be more white drinkers so thanks for the tips!

judas101 wrote: »

I would have thought that you'd go through more than half a bottle per person.

People who are drinking wine will very likely drink more than half a bottle each (if its poured!), but you also usually have a large number of guests who don't drink wine at all, so it tends to balance out.

Gatica

the proportion just seems to vary so much from place to place... I guess it's best to know your wedding party. I think it would be mostly red for our group, however it'll also depend on what their food is, so could end up being different if ppl opt for fish or veggie option...

AckwelFoley

Gatica wrote: »

the proportion just seems to vary so much from place to place... I guess it's best to know your wedding party. I think it would be mostly red for our group, however it'll also depend on what their food is, so could end up being different if ppl opt for fish or veggie option...

It is going to be next to impossible to to k ow what your wedding party like to drink unless I suppose you as them....but if there is 200 people that's a lot of asking!!

Gatica

some vendors will allow you to bring back unoped bottles. It may be worth considering getting more than what you need of each so you're covered!