Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. A phone that grows with your child.

Meet the Other Phone.
A phone that grows with your child.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To think a bottle of wine is a LOT to drink for 1 person?

274 replies

lesley33 · 12/03/2012 19:10

This comes out of a discussion with a frind who I saw on Saturday morning. When we talked about what we were going to do that weekend it came up that she was planning to drink a bottle of wine to herself that evening. When I commented that this was a lot, she said she regularly drank a bottle of wine.

So AIBU in thinking this is a lot for someone to drink in 1 night?

OP posts:
TheMerchantOfVenom · 12/03/2012 20:32

It would only be one bottle (max), not two naturopath and obviously I'm absolutely fine, or I would't be able to do it. Hmm

Wallace · 12/03/2012 20:33

*bad the next day

AThingInYourLife · 12/03/2012 20:33

"but someone indulging in alcoholic drink in the privacy of their own home?! How does that affect you?"

It doesn't affect me. I don't give a shit what people do, but the question was whether I think a bottle of wine is a lot to drink for one person.

I think it is.

Why does it bother you so much what I think?

I'm not judging you or anybody else who drinks that much. It's entirely up to them. I just think it's a lot and I would start to watch my drinking if that was something I was doing a lot.

What does putting away a bottle of wine add to some quiet time to read a book?

AnnoyingOrange · 12/03/2012 20:34

I agree with the merchant of venom. It's quite easy to enjoy a bottle or two of wine over several hours with a nice dinner without feeling drunk

Spuddybean · 12/03/2012 20:34

A bottle of wine for me doesn't even make me feel drunk. I could quite easily drink 2 when enjoying an evening on my own.

I don't get the thing about social drinking - as long as it's not every day and 9am on a work day! - i love enjoying my own company, listening to music, watching films and drinking and eating cheese :)

I have drunk a box of wine to myself in my younger days. A friend of mine had a girly night in once and drank 9 bottles of wine between us!

Original poster
lesley33 · 12/03/2012 20:34

I actually have a very healthy social life but would never dream of drinking this amount either at home or on a night out.

OP posts:
QuickLookBusy · 12/03/2012 20:35

Have just been googling and these are the facts from "Drink Aware" website

A 750 ml bottle of wine contains just over 4 glasses of wine

1 glass = 2/3 units of alcohol

It is recommended a woman drinks only 2/3 units per day.

Which means that if you are drinking more than 1 glass of wine a night, you are over the recommended amount.

So someone drinking a whole bottle of wine a night is drinking 4/5 times the recommended amount.

Lesley you are right to be worried about your friend.

HannahZ · 12/03/2012 20:36

I don't think there's anything wrong with a bottle now and again (although I couldn't come close - 2 small glasses and I would be trashed) but I personally would want to keep track of how much I was drinking in total over a longer period. Just because people don't feel affected, doesn't mean it's not doing damage, it may just mean that they've built up a tolerance.

My personal vice is chocolate, but the 'damage' that overindulging in that does is immediately obvious in weight gain. The state of my liver would worry me if I was drinking more than the guidelines, and not nearly so easy to check.

molly3478 · 12/03/2012 20:36

I go out clubbing nearly every week even since becoming a mum (cant at mo as pregnant again but definitely will be very soon but I would still be battered off my face off that much wine

TheMerchantOfVenom · 12/03/2012 20:36

That's OK Lesley, don't dream of it! Grin

I will continue to enjoy my lovely Fridays and Saturdays with DH though, and remain quite happy with our choices. :)

AThingInYourLife · 12/03/2012 20:37

"It's so delicious - the smell, the colour (preferably red), the taste, the effect - shared with friends, as an accompaniment to food, the different styles, it's not hard to see why one glass leads to another! "

Absolutely.

That's not quite the same as planning to polish off a whole bottle on your own, though, is it?

Bunbaker · 12/03/2012 20:37

As I have already said, we have alcoholism in our family and I would be very worried indeed if I could put away a bottle of wine and not feel any effect at all, let alone be physically able to drink two bottles.

Wine and cheese - a marriage made in heaven Smile

LauARRRRRaPalmer · 12/03/2012 20:40

I'd much rather buy a decent bottle of wine to share with my DP or sometimes for myself than traipse around town throwing money at overpriced, barely decent glasses of vinegar swill. My house is much more lovely than most pubs/bars I know.

And like Worra, over here at Chez LaPalmer a bottle = 2.5 glasses.

Darleneconnor · 12/03/2012 20:42

I got through a bottle on my own the other night and didn't even notice any effect. It was over several hours though.

I don't ever drink more than that at home. If I go out drinking I usually drink around 20 units but I only do this once every couple of months.

redwineandchocolate · 12/03/2012 20:42

A Thing In Your Life, it's not so much planning to polish off the bottle as accepting it will probably happen! As an occasional thing.

LentillyFart · 12/03/2012 20:42

Actually OP you sound frightfully judgey about your friend. If that was me and I knew you were all over MN being so bloody superior about me drinking a bottle of wine I'd call curtains on the friendship. As for being 'concerned' about her - well hmmmmmm - I'd call it being thin lipped catsbum face and a bit sneery. It really is none of your business.

TheMerchantOfVenom · 12/03/2012 20:43

Who said they wouldn't feel any effect at all?

Nice warm, fuzzy, happy with the world glow. Partly wine, partly a nice meal, partly a cuddle on the sofa, partly some invigorating and funny chat and partly some good Pinot noir. Wink

ButWhyIsTheGinGone · 12/03/2012 20:43

And I also don't get why you would "worry" about your friend.
Do you worry about your friends who smoke? Who drive too fast? Who indulge in the occasional spliff? Who overeat? Who aren't up to date with their tetanus shots? Do you tell them your concerns? Or do you drop in comments questioning whether they REALLY need that extra drink/cake/fag, etc? Does it keep you awake at night? No.

Threads like this just get to me as they're just another way to get in a nice little dig at other people for doing something that has precisely nothing to do with anyone else. If I really believed that EVERY poster who claimed, "yes, you should be worried, OP" lived a thoroughly healthy lifestyle with no vices whatsoever, I might feel differently, but I don't.

Can we not just let people make their own choices?

Spuddybean · 12/03/2012 20:43

Can i ask those of you who wouldn't drink that amount in one go what you do at all day things like weddings/bbq's? Do you have a couple of small glasses then go on to soft drinks? I am genuinely curious. I know if i go to a do people drink for 8 hours and are still not drunk. Yes you drink slower, but still a glass an hour would be slow and still 8 glasses.

Iamweasel · 12/03/2012 20:43

Four glasses stretched over an evening doesn't seen excessive to me. It's like less than a drink an hour

Bottoms up

Hic

redwineandchocolate · 12/03/2012 20:44

I certainly feel an effect after a bottle of wine, a lovely, tipsy, up for some great sex effect. Not puking down the loo, that's all...

redwineandchocolate · 12/03/2012 20:44

Those people who judge others for having a bottle of wine to themselves on occasion, do you also judge overweight people who have a Domino's on a weekend? Just curious.

QuickLookBusy · 12/03/2012 20:45

Bun I have had alcoholism in my family too. I grew up with it.

They were very high functioning, successful people, very "normal" people but my teenage years were blighted by being worried sick about them.

They drank every night and both suffered huge health problems in their late 50s.

AngryBeaver · 12/03/2012 20:45

My next door neighbour told me her and her husband get through at least one bottle each per night,sometimes 2 or 3!I was shocked at that.
On top of everything else,imagine how much they spend!Shock

I would never have used to be able to drink much,but have had a stressful 6 months and can now finish a bottle of wine without having a hangover!

I don't do it often,and I usually don't drink at all in the week.
But last night,we slobbed on the sofa,watched a dvd,ordered a pizza and had a bottle of wine each...easily done in those circumstances me thinks

runningforthebusinheels · 12/03/2012 20:45

Yes, I can do a bottle of wine to myself - far too easily actually.

Personally, I do think it's too much, ok occasionally of course, but I do drink over the women's recommended weekly units. I think it's a good idea to cut out drinking alcohol in the week.

If me and dh get a curry in and have a night in together we can easily finish 2 bottles between us.