# Quarter bottles of wine what other country are the sold in



## coleen (13 Feb 2007)

Hi having just been over the water to england and observed 2 ladies buying a bottle of hardy's red wine for 6 pound the 75cl size in a bar, it made me think about our quarter bottles.

What other country do they sell these in? Most other european countries sell wine by the glass from a big bottle. Are these just bottled for Ireland and if so why so? 

The wine is usually nicer and better value out of big bottles. I had just left cork airport where I paid 5.50 for a glass from a bottle and if I wished to buy a big bottle at airport it was priced at 25 euro a big difference from 6GBP I know that the tax take from the gov here is more but that is a big difference. Do any pubs in Ireland sell 75cl bottles? I have always seen only 1/4 bottles. It would be much better value for 2 - 3 to get a 75cl bottles and a couple of glasses. are the 1/4 bottles just another way of extracting more money out of us?


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## Protocol (14 Feb 2007)

Most continental countries, where they drink more wine, pour a glass from a bottle.  As they have a lot of turnover, the wine won't go bad in the bottle.

One issue in Ireland is that due to lower turnover, a bottle may not be emptied in a night, and I suppose you run the risk of the wine going bad, etc.

One solution to this is the quarter bottle.  No wastage.

But yes, it does mean more margin and more profits for the publican.

Interestingly, I was in a hotel bar in Sligo last week, and they did pour from a 75cl bottle.  So maybe things are changing.

I'd say very few pubs in Ireland sell 75cl bottles.  Maybe some pubs in Dublin do? I saw ads in the Living Room pub in Galway for bottle of the week.

A price of 6 stg for 75cl seems low for a pub.  Though I have seen such prices in www.jdwetherspoon.co.uk pubs.

I'd say an Irish pub price for a 75cl bottle would be at a minimum 15 euro, probably more like 20 euro.  This would still be good value compared to 5 euro or more for the quarter bottle.

As regards tax, the excise duty on a bottle of wine is a fixed 2.05 per bottle.  It would be less in the UK, though not a lot less.  The tax difference does not explain the price difference.


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## money man (14 Feb 2007)

Maybe its my mistake ...but if 1 bottle = 15/20 euro and a quarter bottle (if this is literally a quater of a bottle?) is 5 euro how would this represent better value than the quarter bottle?


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## Protocol (14 Feb 2007)

Fair point, I thought that myself as I typed it.

However, to be more specific, I think the 1/4 bottles are now at least 5 euro in pubs? Are they?

And if a pub / cafe was selling a bottle at, say, 16, then it would be good value.

Restaurants and cafes in Sligo sell bottles staring at 16 euro, so this is good value compared to 5 or even 5.50 for the 1/4 bottle.

PS Compare this with a *half-litre of house red wine in a Paris restaurant for 2.50.  Unreal!!!*

See here:

[broken link removed]


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## Welfarite (14 Feb 2007)

If the tax take is fixed at 2.05 on a bottle of wine regardless of price/quality, does this same take apply to the quarter bottle of wine?


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## niceoneted (14 Feb 2007)

The quarter bottle is 25cl in size denoting a quarter of 100cl so it is therefore a third of the amount of a normal 75cl bottle. Depends so on the prize of the full bottle you want in the particular pub versus 3 quarter bottles.​


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## porterbray (14 Feb 2007)

Welfarite said:


> If the tax take is fixed at 2.05 on a bottle of wine regardless of price/quality, does this same take apply to the quarter bottle of wine?


 
The excise duty is set as a per litre rate, so the duty is levied at a corresponding percentage, depoending on the size of the bottle. My local allows you to buy wine in their off licence and chanrges a corkage charge of €3, so effectively you can get a full bottle of wine for €10/€11


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## SOM42 (14 Feb 2007)

niceoneted said:


> The quarter bottle is 25cl in size denoting a quarter of 100cl so it is therefore a third of the amount of a normal 75cl bottle. Depends so on the prize of the full bottle you want in the particular pub versus 3 quarter bottles.​


 
I think most "quarter bottles" sold in Ireland are in fact 187ml which is a quarter of a bottle.  The only place I've seen 250ml bottles is in pubs is in England.  (JD Weatherspoons as it happens)


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## Protocol (14 Feb 2007)

The small bottles in Ireland are 750/4 = 187.5ml.

The excise duty is 2.05 per 75cl bottle.  It is double this for sparkling wine.

See here, appendix 3:

[broken link removed]


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## huskerdu (14 Feb 2007)

The reason for the quarter bottles is to avoid wastage, as had been said before.  It is good to see bars selling enough wine to make it worth their while to open a 75ml bottle. 
The flip side of this is that I was in a bar in Italy who didn't have any draught beer. The keg ran out and they would not get another one in, until the following week.  I'll love to see the reaction is that happened in Ireland.


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## money man (14 Feb 2007)

Im just glad this didnt end up being a rip-off!!!! there i said it!! ha ha ha ha .


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## Cahir (16 Feb 2007)

I was told by a wine importer that Ireland and Airlines are the biggest buyers of quarter bottles.  I can't stand them myself and would love to see more places pouring from big bottles.


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## gipimann (16 Feb 2007)

coleen said:


> Hi having just been over the water to england and observed 2 ladies buying a bottle of hardy's red wine for 6 pound the 75cl size in a bar, it made me think about our quarter bottles.


 
Some pubs in UK will give the buyer the rest of the bottle if they buy 2 large glasses (250ml), which might explain the very good value seen by Coleen above.


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## DrMoriarty (16 Feb 2007)

My favourite local sells quarter-bottles of a nice unpretentious red for €4.75 (ah, the joys of living outside the Pale!), and also sells full bottles for takeaway at €11. When I was with fellow winedrinkers, it bothered me that we should to have to pay €19 for four screwcaps, so I persuaded (pestered?) the barman to get the manager to agree to sell the full bottles — for consumption on the premises — for €14.

No harm in asking...


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## MsGinger (16 Feb 2007)

My boss has a pub in the west of ireland and provides a wine list for big bottles / champagne etc as well as the quarter bottles.


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## Vanilla (16 Feb 2007)

In lots of pubs the wine that is available in quarter bottles is awful, undrinkable rubbish. I can understand that they can't have an extensive selection, but in many pubs if you ask what kind of wines they have, the choice is- red or white? Why can't they sell a better quality wine?


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## Purple (16 Feb 2007)

Vanilla said:


> In lots of pubs the wine that is available in quarter bottles is awful, undrinkable rubbish. I can understand that they can't have an extensive selection, but in many pubs if you ask what kind of wines they have, the choice is- red or white? Why can't they sell a better quality wine?


I think that problem in confined to Kerry


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## Vanilla (16 Feb 2007)

LOL- you'd think so, but I'm not confined to Kerry and have encountered this problem elsewhere...


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## Purple (16 Feb 2007)

Don't tell me you cross the international border into Cork!


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## euroDilbert (16 Feb 2007)

The main reason quarter bottles are so popular here is that until fairly recently, we didn't have a tradition of drinking wine in pubs. These bottles are convenient for publicans as they don't have to worry about leftover wine going off etc. They also don't have to know anything about wine - amd are easy for bar staff to handle.

In addition, AFAIK, there is no regulation size 'glass of wine' here in Ireland. In the UK, I think it can either be 175 or 250 ml.

I should add that the number of places with 'proper' wine for sale is increasing - not just in Dublin, so there are many exceptions to the 'red or white' brigade.


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## Vanilla (16 Feb 2007)

Purple said:


> Don't tell me you cross the international border into Cork!


 
Ha ha, I've even ( *gasp*) been known to pay Dublin a flying visit on occasion....when absolutely necessary. 

We *do* have an international airport now in Kerry, you know. So we tend to use it, now and then ( you know, when unavoidable).


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