When you're drinking wine, you probably don't think about how much alcohol it has unless you're halfway through your first glass and you start to feel a little fuzzy. I've been there. When that happens, I know that the wine I'm drinking has a higher alcohol by volume (ABV) than what I'm used to.
Because wines vary in ABV from 5.5% to over 20%, it may be challenging to determine how much alcohol is in a bottle of wine. Some wines contain a lot more servings of alcohol per bottle than others.
How Much Alcohol Is in a Bottle of Wine by Type
The National Institute on Alcohol Use and Alcoholism lists that a serving of alcohol in any beverage is .6 fluid ounces (14 grams of pure alcohol). That's just the ethanol without any dilution. With wine's large variation in ABV for different types, there's also a range of alcohol servings in a standard 750 mL bottle.
| ABV | Examples | Servings of alcohol in 750mL | Wine per serving |
| 5.5% to 7.5% | Moscato d'Asti Brachetto d'Aqui | 2.3 to 3.2 | 8 to 11 ounces |
| 8% to 9.5% | Riesling Alsace blanc Muscadet | 3.4 to 4 | 6.3 to 7.5 ounces |
| 10% to 11.5% | Lambrusco Soave Pinot grigio | 4.2 to 4.8 | 2.6 to 3.1 ounces |
| 12% to 13.5% | Bordeaux Burgundy Champagne Rhône blends Nebbiolo Sangiovese Rosé | 5.1 to 5.7 | 2.2 to 2.5 ounces |
| 14% to 15% | Cabernet sauvignon Merlot Pinot noir Chardonnay Zinfandel Grenache | 5.9 to 6.3 | 2 to 2.1 ounces |
| 15.5% to 20% | Shiraz Late-harvest dessert wines Fortified wines Vermouth | 6.6 to 8.5 | 1.5 to 1.9 ounces |
The numbers in this chart are based on the average ABV for each type of wine. Wines listed for each percentage may have a higher or lower ABV. You can find a wine's ABV listed on its label.
You'll notice as the alcohol content of your wine goes up, your total serving size in ounces will get smaller in order to maintain the .6 ounces of alcohol per serving.
How to Calculate Servings Based on Alcohol by Volume (ABV)
In general, wine ranges from about 5.5% ABV for very low-alcohol wines to 20% ABV for fortified wines. So if a wine is 15% ABV, in a 750 mL bottle, 112.5 mL is pure alcohol (.15*750). A 750 mL bottle of 15% ABV has 6.7 (750÷112.5) servings of alcohol according to the standards set by NIH.
Other Bottle Sizes
There are other, less common bottle sizes. However, in general, these are just multiples of the 750 mL bottle. For example, a magnum holds 1.5L, double a regular bottle, and a double magnum holds 3L, doubling the number of servings found in a magnum. A split holds 375 mL, so it cuts the number of alcohol servings in half.
Doing the Math
If you know your wine's ABV, you can do the math yourself. Some things you'll need to know to do the calculation include:
- 750mL equals 25.36 ounces.
- A serving of alcohol is .6 ounces.
Calculating ABV in a 750mL Bottle
Here's how to do the calculation for a 750mL (standard) bottle of wine.
(25.36 ounces X percentage of ABV)/.6 = total servings of alcohol in the entire bottle
Calculating Serving Size
To calculate the serving size:
- Divide 25.36 ounces by the number of servings... so for a 750mL bottle that has 5.5% ABV, you would divide 25.36 (the number of ounces in a 750mL bottle) by 2.3 servings (the number of servings of alcohol in the entire bottle).
- For a faster method that doesn't involve math, just look at the table for the range of servings and sizes, and ballpark it.
A Range of Possibilities
Wine contains alcohol, water, and other ingredients, and it has a broad range of ABV, which means if you're concerned strictly with servings of alcohol, you can consume anywhere from about 1.5 ounces to more than 11 ounces and have the same amount of alcohol. Our chart makes it easier to keep track.
