How do you count open wine bottles for stocktake?

Count them in glasses rather than tenths, because glasses are what you sell. A 750 ml bottle is five glasses at 150 ml or six at 125 ml. Record whole glasses remaining, and use the same rounding rule every time so the trend stays readable.

How many glasses are in a bottle of wine?

A standard 750 ml bottle gives five 150 ml glasses or six 125 ml glasses. Which one applies depends on the pour your list advertises, so write that against the item once and every count afterwards is consistent.

Why is wine variance high when nothing is missing?

Most often the by-the-glass pour running over. A 175 ml pour on a 150 ml list loses a whole glass every six bottles and is invisible on the floor. After that: bottles opened for a taste, wine gone over, corked returns not recorded, and comps at the end of night.

How often should you count the wine cellar?

Count the bar's fast-moving wine with the rest of the bar, monthly. Count the full cellar at least twice a year — the expensive bottles at the back are the ones that go over, go missing, or sit for years tying up money.

Stocktake6 min read

Counting wine, including the bottles that are already open

Wine is the part of a bar count where the money hides. The bottles are dearer than the spirits, the by-the-glass list leaks quietly, and the cellar is full of stock nobody has looked at since it arrived.

Last updated 12 September 2026

Count sealed wine by bin, not by name

Wine lists are long and full of names that look alike — three vintages of the same label, two producers with the same surname. Counting by name invites the one mistake that is hardest to find afterwards: the right number written against the wrong wine.

Bin numbers exist for this. If the cellar is binned, count in bin order and record against the bin. If it is not binned, that is the job to do before the next count.

Open bottles: count in glasses, not in tenths

A spirits bottle gets estimated in tenths because it is poured in measures too small to count. Wine is different — it is sold in glasses, and a bottle holds a known number of them. So count what you actually sell.

A 750 ml bottle gives five 150 ml glasses, or six at 125 ml. Decide which pour your list uses, write it against the item, and then an open bottle is simply the number of glasses left in it. That number goes straight into your variance without a conversion step anyone can get wrong.

750 ml ÷ 150 ml = 5 glasses per bottle
750 ml ÷ 125 ml = 6 glasses per bottle
Record open bottles as glasses remaining, whole numbers only
Anything with a centimetre left is one glass or none — pick the rule and keep it

Where wine variance actually comes from

Wine loses money in a different way to spirits. Spirits leak through over-pouring; wine leaks through generosity, oxidation and the cellar nobody visits.

By-the-glass pours running over — a 175 ml pour on a 150 ml list costs a whole glass every six bottles, and nobody can see it happening.
Bottles opened for a taste and never finished.
Wine gone over — an open white left three days, a red nobody sealed.
Corked bottles returned to the customer and not recorded as wastage.
Staff drinks and comps at the end of service.
Cellar stock that was counted last time and has since been moved to a function.

The slow-moving cellar is worth a separate look

Fast-moving wine gets counted properly because it matters this week. The expensive bottles at the back are the ones that quietly go missing, go over, or sit for two years tying up money that could be buying stock that sells.

Count the cellar in full at least twice a year even if you count the bar monthly, and look at the dates as you go. A bottle that has not moved in eighteen months is not stock, it is a decision you have not made yet.

Two people, one list, and nothing moving

A wine count is a two-person job for the same reason a bar count is: one reads, one records, and neither is putting a bottle down to write on a clipboard.

Do it after service with the doors shut. If a bottle is opened during the count, write it down at that moment. And if you have to split the room, split it by physical area with no overlap at all — two people counting the same rack from different ends is how a case gets counted twice.

What the number is for

Beverage cost for wine works the same way as pour cost for spirits: opening stock plus purchases minus closing stock, divided by wine sales for the same period.

Compare that to your own previous periods rather than a benchmark from somewhere else. A list with a lot of by-the-glass will read differently to a list that is mostly bottles, and neither is wrong — but a number that moves without a price change is telling you something, and it is usually the pour.

Or let Stocktake do it

Count the cellar on a phone with the list already in bin order, and let two people work the same sheet at once rather than merging two pieces of paper at midnight.

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Questions

How do you count open wine bottles for stocktake?: Count them in glasses rather than tenths, because glasses are what you sell. A 750 ml bottle is five glasses at 150 ml or six at 125 ml. Record whole glasses remaining, and use the same rounding rule every time so the trend stays readable.
How many glasses are in a bottle of wine?: A standard 750 ml bottle gives five 150 ml glasses or six 125 ml glasses. Which one applies depends on the pour your list advertises, so write that against the item once and every count afterwards is consistent.
Why is wine variance high when nothing is missing?: Most often the by-the-glass pour running over. A 175 ml pour on a 150 ml list loses a whole glass every six bottles and is invisible on the floor. After that: bottles opened for a taste, wine gone over, corked returns not recorded, and comps at the end of night.
How often should you count the wine cellar?: Count the bar's fast-moving wine with the rest of the bar, monthly. Count the full cellar at least twice a year — the expensive bottles at the back are the ones that go over, go missing, or sit for years tying up money.