Wine by the Glass Pricing Calculator
Wine by the glass is one of the highest-margin lines on a beverage menu: but only if the pour math is right. Enter your bottle cost, pour size, and target pour cost to see your true cost per glass and the menu price that protects your margin. Everything updates live.
Your wholesale cost per bottle, before tax.
Standard bottle is 750 ml.
Common pours: 125 ml or 150 ml (5 oz).
Tasting pours, spillage, oxidized bottles. 5–10% is typical.
Most restaurants target 20–28% on wine by the glass.
Why by-the-glass math is different
A bottle sold whole has almost no waste: you open it, you pour it, the table drinks it. Wine by the glass is a different business. Every open bottle is a race against oxidation, every tasting pour is a cost, and every heavy-handed bartender pour shaves margin off the most profitable part of your wine program. The theoretical yield, five glasses from a 750 ml bottle at 150 ml pours, is a ceiling, not a plan. Costing to the theoretical number and ignoring waste is how a 22% target quietly becomes 30% in reality.
Worked example: a $16.00 wholesale bottle, 750 ml, poured at 150 ml. Theoretical yield is 5.0 glasses; with a 5% waste allowance that's 4.75 glasses. Cost per glass: $16.00 ÷ 4.75 = $3.37. At a 22% target pour cost, the menu price is $3.37 ÷ 0.22 = $15.31 per glass, leaving $11.94 profit. Notice this lands almost exactly on the old rule of thumb: one glass priced near the bottle's wholesale cost. Skip the waste allowance and you'd price at $14.55, giving away nearly a dollar of margin per glass without knowing it.
Cost per glass = Bottle cost ÷ Glasses per bottle
Glass price = Cost per glass ÷ Target pour cost %
Practical tips for the wine list
Protect slow movers: wines that take more than two days to sell through should go on a preservation system or come off the by-the-glass list: oxidation is pure margin loss. Use your by-the-glass list to move bottles you buy well: a strong supplier deal on a case can fund an aggressive glass price that still hits 20%. And recheck pours quarterly with a measured carafe; "about five ounces" has a way of becoming six.
Frequently asked questions
How many glasses of wine are in a bottle?
A standard 750 ml bottle yields five 150 ml (5 oz) pours, or six 125 ml pours. In practice, plan for slightly fewer: tasting pours, spillage, and bottles that oxidize before they're finished typically cost you 5–10% of theoretical yield. The calculator above lets you build that waste into the math.
What is a good pour cost for wine by the glass?
Most restaurants target 20–28% pour cost on wine by the glass: a bit higher than spirits, because wine has more waste and spoilage. Under 20% is excellent and common on house wines with strong supplier pricing. Over 30% usually means the bottle cost is too high for the price the market will pay, or pours are running heavy.
Should a glass of wine cost the same as the bottle's wholesale price?
That's the classic rule of thumb: price one glass at roughly what you paid for the whole bottle wholesale. With five pours per bottle, that rule lands you at about 20% pour cost: a healthy target. It's a quick sanity check, but run the actual numbers for wines with unusual bottle costs or pour sizes.
How do I account for wine waste and spoilage?
Build a waste allowance of 5–10% into every by-the-glass calculation to cover tasting pours, spillage, overpours, and bottles that oxidize before selling through. Preservation systems (Coravin, gas systems) and smaller bottle formats cut waste on slow-moving wines. Track actual glasses sold per bottle opened: if you're consistently below theoretical yield, waste is eating your margin.