The first question after the scale ticket is always the same: how many bottles is that? A ton of grapes gives a fairly predictable number of gallons after pressing and racking losses, a gallon is 3.78541 liters, and a standard bottle is 0.75 liters. Chain those together, round down, and you have a bottling estimate you can order glass and labels against.
Two tons of Cabernet at 150 gallons a ton is 300 gallons, or 1,135.6 liters — 1,514 bottles once you drop the partial one.
The example
Three lots from the same crush pad. Gallons per ton varies by variety, press program and how hard you push the pomace, so it stays an input.
| A | B | C | D | E | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Lot | Tons | Gal/ton | Gallons | Bottles |
| 2 | Cabernet block 3 | 2 | 150 | 300.0 | 1,514 |
| 3 | Chardonnay estate | 3.5 | 160 | 560.0 | 2,826 |
| 4 | Petit Verdot | 0.8 | 140 | 112.0 | 565 |
The formula
Gallons first, so the cellar can check it against tank readings, then bottles:
How it works
Each step is a unit conversion, and each one is a place to lose count:
B2*C2is finished gallons. The gallons-per-ton figure should already be net of lees and racking loss — if you are using a gross press yield, knock it down before it goes in the sheet.D2*3.78541converts US gallons to liters. Use the full constant; 3.8 is off by four tenths of a percent, which is a case of wine on a 3-ton lot./0.75divides by the bottle size in liters. Change it to 1.5 for magnums or 0.375 for halves.ROUNDDOWN(...,0)drops the fraction. You cannot sell 0.164 of a bottle, and the last partial bottle is usually topping wine anyway.
Divide bottles by 12 for cases, and round that down too. Glass and cartons are ordered by the case, and an estimate that rounds up buys pallets you will not fill.
Try it: interactive demo
Enter the tons crushed, your gallons per ton, and the bottle size in liters.
Variations
Cases instead of bottles
Divide by 12 inside the same ROUNDDOWN so you never end up with 0.9 of a case on the order form.
Tons needed for a bottle target
Working backwards from a sales commitment: bottles times 0.75, divided by liters per gallon, divided by gallons per ton, rounded up.
Pitfalls & errors
Gallons per ton is the number that moves the whole estimate. Whites pressed as whole clusters can run 140; reds pressed hard after fermentation can push 175. Use your own history, not a textbook figure.
Keep a separate loss column for topping, sampling and filtration if you are estimating a year out. Two to three percent evaporates from a barrel program before it ever sees a bottling line.
Do not round the gallons before converting. Rounding 112.0 to 112 is harmless, but rounding 560.4 to 560 and then converting costs you two bottles on paper that exist in the tank.
Practice workbook
Frequently asked questions
Why 3.78541 and not 3.785?
Should I estimate before or after barrel aging?
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