Office Party Wine: A Simple Rule and How Much to Buy (2026)
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A lot of office party wine gets bought on a Friday afternoon at the LCBO, with a clipboard and a guess. We'd skip the guessing. For a mixed office, buy the Malivoire Courtney Gamay, a Beamsville Bench red from Niagara. Add the Strewn Terroir Riesling, also from Niagara, only when a few guests want a white. And put out an alcohol-free drink whatever else happens.
The plan
- Default to the Gamay. For a mixed office, the Malivoire 2022 Courtney Gamay is our one red. This is the rule the rest of the guide hangs on.
- Add the Riesling on request. The Strewn Terroir Riesling is for guests who'd rather have a white.
- Always put out an alcohol-free drink. Sparkling water with lime, beside the wine.
How we chose
We haven't tasted or poured either wine, and we'd rather say so now. These aren't the winners of a tasting. They're two wines we could check on paper. Malivoire was our September 2026 winery, and its Red & White pack included the Courtney Gamay. Strewn was our June 2026 winery, and its box included a 2022 Terroir Riesling.
We read each winery's own notes. Malivoire also gave pairings and a serving temperature, and Strewn gave neither. Quotes below come from the winery, and ideas that are ours say so. Our call on the default is simple: one red is easier to buy, pour and count than two wines, so the Riesling is an add-on.
Malivoire Courtney Gamay: the default
Gamay is the grape behind Beaujolais. Malivoire grows this one on the Beamsville Bench in the Niagara Peninsula, a short drive off the QEW between Hamilton and Niagara-on-the-Lake. The 2022 comes from the estate's Courtney Block and is VQA (Vintners Quality Alliance) Beamsville Bench. VQA Ontario explains what the seal covers. The alcohol is 13%.
The winery describes it as "boldly scented of black cherry, blackcurrant and boysenberry, with spicy hints of anise and nutmeg." It also mentions smooth tannins and spirited acidity, then cranberry and rhubarb flavours and a cherry-allspice finish. Tannins are what dry out your mouth, so smooth ones are good news if your colleagues don't drink red often.
For serving, Malivoire says near 14 °C. For food, it suggests herb-crusted pork tenderloin with roasted potatoes, or eggplant moussaka. Our own idea is a tourtière tray. Check the Malivoire product page for current details.
Strewn Terroir Riesling: the add-on
Some offices have a few people who'd rather have a white. A Riesling gives them something to sip. Its 2019 figure of 11.2% sits below the Gamay's 13%, but check the vintage you buy.
Strewn, at 1339 Lakeshore Road in Niagara-on-the-Lake, calls its Terroir Riesling the driest of its three Rieslings. The numbers we have are for the 2019 vintage: 11.2% alcohol and about 6 g/L of residual sugar, which is the sugar left after fermentation. Strewn's notes for that year mention fresh citrus, ripe stone fruit, wet-stone minerality and racy acidity. The box wine was the 2022, and its figures aren't in the notes we have, so read the label on the bottle you buy. Strewn's site is strewnwinery.com.
Smoked salmon on crackers is our own idea for it, not Strewn's.
The alcohol-free drink: sparkling water with lime
Set out sparkling water with sliced limes, in bottles so it stays fizzy, and pour it into the same glasses as the wine. We don't sell alcohol-free wine, so we won't name one. We think a plain glass of sparkling water is easy for anyone to pick up without comment.
Our rule for drivers is simple: no alcohol at all. Anyone who has had a drink gets a ride home or a place to stay. Say it once at the start, while everyone is still relaxed, and plan rides as RSVPs come in.
How much to buy
A 750 mL bottle pours about five 150 mL glasses. Our guideline is two to three glasses per wine-drinking guest over two to three hours, which is roughly one bottle for every two guests. That's our own number.
Count wine drinkers. Take everyone on the list, subtract anyone driving and anyone who's said they're skipping, and use 2.5 glasses each.
| Wine-drinking guests | Glasses at 2.5 each | Bottles (750 mL) |
|---|---|---|
| 10 | 25 | 5 |
| 20 | 50 | 10 |
| 40 | 100 | 20 |
| 60 | 150 | 30 |
| 100 | 250 | 50 |
With 40 wine drinkers, 40 times 2.5 is 100 glasses, and 100 divided by five is 20 bottles. If some guests asked for white, give them the same math. Ten of them at 2.5 glasses is 25 glasses, or five bottles of Riesling, and you buy five fewer Gamay.
A spare bottle is worth having if you can take it home afterward. These are the bottles we'd use. We haven't confirmed where they're sold singly, and both wineries have had their turn in our monthly box, which rotates, so the current one may be different. Ask the winery about availability early, since you'll be buying for a date.
If you can't get these two bottles
The idea carries over to other bottles. Ask at your liquor store or a local bottle shop for a Canadian Gamay and for a dry Canadian Riesling. Look for the VQA mark on the label, and read the alcohol percentage and the vintage before you buy.
Setup and timeline
This timeline is our suggestion, worked back from the start time, and the fridge times are rough guesses.
- A week before: ask at RSVP who wants red or white, settle the count of wine drinkers, order or pick up the bottles, and check the Riesling label for its vintage.
- The day before: buy limes and sparkling water, and borrow real glasses, about one per person plus spares. Put the Riesling in the fridge overnight.
- An hour before: give the Gamay about 20 minutes in the fridge, then set it out away from the radiators. Malivoire's near 14 °C is the target.
- At the start: put the food out, set the water beside the wine, and say the driver rule.
- Halfway through: top up the water, clear empties and reseal open bottles. Keep the Riesling in an ice bucket so it stays cold.
- The last half hour: stop pouring new glasses and move the water to the front.
Food slows the evening down, so set the plates near the bottles. Butter tarts and Nanaimo bars are easy to put out for dessert (our picks, not the wineries').
Common mistakes
- Buying by headcount. Drivers and non-drinkers shouldn't count toward the wine.
- Leaving the red warm. A crowded room can run hot, and the fridge stop only helps for a while.
- Quoting the wrong Riesling numbers. The 11.2% and 6 g/L belong to the 2019 vintage.
- Buying two wines for a small office. Ten wine drinkers need five bottles of red, and a second wine adds one more decision.
Where to go next
The rest of your holiday wine list is in our Christmas wines guide. For gifts to the team, our corporate gifts collection is where company orders start, and the Christmas gift baskets and our Secret Santa guide for wine lovers cover smaller exchanges. A wine gift subscription keeps arriving after the party. We built Wine Club Canada around one Canadian winery a month, and our wine subscription is there if you'd like more bottles like these. Order early, since we haven't confirmed where these two bottles are sold singly.
