Did You Know?

halfwine.com’s team shares their knowledge on all things 375ml… 
(the little one on the right, versus a hefty full 750ml bottle)

Half bottle size and weight

Half bottles are small and light.  Four can quite easily fit into a handbag and weigh less than the average notebook PC.

Recommended maximum daily amount of alcohol

Half a half bottle of wine is within the maximum for women and well below the maximum for men.

Half bottles and driving

Half a half bottle has the alcohol equivalence of a pint of beer (more or less).  So if you are not likely to be had for drunk driving for a pint of beer you aren’t likely to be had for drinking half a half bottle.  So whilst the limit remains at 80mg per 100ml of blood that makes the picnic in the country with a half bottle of wine for two okay.  Of course, if you are unlucky enough to be in any way irrational or unsteady after a glass of wine, you shouldn’t have any before driving.

Wine and calories

A half bottle of red wine has about 255 calories and a half bottle of white wine about 275 calories (not sweet wine).  This is equivalent to a pint of beer or two gin/vodka tonics.  Half a bottle of brut champagne has even less calories - about 190.  The darker, sweeter and more alcohol content, the more calories; the lighter and dryer the wine, the less calories.  For more information go to the Drinkaware website.

Wine is good for you

Red wine has been shown (proven, if you are a laboratory mouse) to have a wide range of benefits.  And champagne has been suggested to help with Alzheimer's.  Keep an eye out for health-related articles we share in our In the News section of halfwine.com if you really need to be convinced.  There are also a lot of adverse points, particularly if you believe “if one glass is good, how great is a bottle?”, so be selective in your reading if you want to remain convinced.

The cost of wine

Did you know that you pay £4.07 for each half bottle before you pay the winemaker one penny for the wine in the bottle?

How is this possible?

  • The bottle, cork, label and packaging cost ± £1.14
  • Government excise duty on 375 ml of wine is £1.00
  • Transport from the winery to you is ± £1.25
  • VAT on the above is ± £0.68

The moral of the story is that if you pay an extra £1 for a bottle of wine then, in percentage terms, you are paying the wine maker considerably more and therefore should get a much better half bottle of wine.