How many bottles of 750ml bottles for 35 people?

I have been asked to provide wine (and attend) a dinner for a group of professional women. 25-35 guests who will have some non-EMH wines as greeters, and then we will settle down to a 3 course dinner. I will be pouring 3 vintages of Black Cat. How many bottles do I need? Tastings I can figure, but dinner wines for a group this size I have not done. Obviously everyone will want a pour of each vintage, and perhaps repours. It is not a charity dinner - I will be paid for the wines.

All opinions and experiences welcome.

I entertain quite a bit, and generally assume one bottle per person. If the gathering is all men, I generally assume more. In the mixed crowd, my one bottle per person is generally on point. While your group is all women, and presumably the consumption rate might be a little lower, you can’t go wrong with having some extra just in case.

We plan that way, as well!

My wife jokes and says the number of bottles = the number of guests +1.

I don’t know why I find that so funny.

The preliminary wines may mitigate the drinkage of EMH, but having that many on hand should serve you well.

Hope it’s fun for you and them!

Thanks, Robert and Anton. It is about what I was thinking. I believe the group is an association of executive level women in the construction business. I am going to look at it as if it were all men to be on the safe side.

Damn! Charlie and I are Construction Executives! Fly us up to come pour! And yes, Construction folk drink heavily. For safety reasons.

9 bottles per wine. So a case each.

The restaurant staff will do the actual pouring, so I will not be in need of your exective talents. The following night I am doing a charity pour in Monterey/Carmel. Ya’ll want to fly yourself up and help me pour, let me know! It’s tough when “business” takes you to Carmel-by-the Sea .

Kevin Shin asked me to suggest 350 bottles.

(j/k)

Baller.

At 15.5 ABV

I read somewhere that Lafite Rothschild assumes 3/4 of a bottle for each person in attendance. I’ve applied this to parties and found that it often is about right.

The only wine I have made or will make that is even close to that is my 2017, still in barrel. Coming in at 15.1%, I believe. Those who have tasted it did not suspect that ABV because that alcohol is just not apparent. And no, it does not have smoke taint. I picked on Sept 4th and the fires began October 8th.

Only if you both wear skirts.

How many of the 25 to 25 will be designated drivers?

Cheers,
Curt

This is not a local group - coming from all over. There are hotels right there. For me, too.

For large dinners I’ve done I plan on around 3/4 bottles per person depending upon whether there is a passed wine or sparkling at reception or at dessert. It also depends on the pours. I instruct servers to pour 4 oz at the beginning of the evening and begin to taper that down to 3 oz as the night goes on.

30 bottles seems like a sweet spot. If my wife and I were there we would take down a bottle or two!

How long is the event? One bottle/person is a pretty good gauge for an all-evening event at home. If it’s a two or two-and-half-hour event at a restaurant, I’d guess it would be substantially less.

Put another way: time, as well as number of people, is relevant.

A case per vintage, with more for backup. If no one likes one of the vintages, it will put pressure on the other vintages so more consumed of those. So it is not a straight on question…having 3 vintages of the same wine to deal with complicates things slightly.

How did Kevin figure into the OPs question? And why 350 bottles?