How to cut back on drinking wine

To cut back on wine, start by measuring: a standard US glass is 5 ounces, and most home pours are much bigger. Then set a weekly number of glasses, decide in advance which nights are wine nights, buy one bottle at a time, and give the 6 p.m. glass a replacement you actually enjoy.

Wine is harder to cut down than beer for a few plain reasons: there's no fixed serving, the bottle is open once you start, and a glass often comes with cooking, dinner and the couch. Here's how to deal with each of them, with a 4-week plan at the end.

Why wine is harder to cut back on than other drinks

• No set serving. A beer comes in a 12 oz can. Wine goes into whatever glass is in the cupboard, and many hold 12 to 20 ounces.
• Strength varies a lot. Wines run from under 10% alcohol for some light whites to 14–15% or more for many big reds. The same glass can be one drink or nearly two.
• Topping up. When someone refills your glass halfway, you lose count.
• The open bottle. Once a bottle is open, finishing it can feel like the sensible thing to do, so it doesn't "go off".
• It doesn't feel like drinking. A glass with dinner or while cooking feels like part of the meal, not a drink you chose.

None of this is about willpower. Each one has a practical fix.

Step 1: Measure your real glass

In the US, one standard drink of table wine (about 12% alcohol) is 5 ounces, according to the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA). Tonight, pour your usual glass, then tip it into a measuring cup. Many people find their "one glass" is 8 or 9 ounces: close to two standard drinks.

Figures worked out from NIAAA's standard drink (14 grams of pure alcohol). Check the % on your label and use the closer column.

Get a smaller glass

Glass size changes how much people drink. In a 2016 study at a Cambridge (UK) bar and restaurant, wine sales rose about 9% in the weeks it served wine in bigger glasses, even though the pour sizes stayed the same (Pechey and colleagues, BMC Public Health). Use small glasses at home, or mark a 5 oz line on the one you like. Some people pour once, then put the bottle back in the fridge or the cupboard, out of reach of the table.

Step 2: Count a normal week, then set your number

For one week, change nothing. Each time you have wine, note the pour, the time, where you were and what was going on just before. At the end of the week, turn it into standard drinks using the table above.

Then set two things:

• A weekly number, about a quarter to a third below what you counted. If you counted roughly two big glasses a night (about 25 drinks a week), aim for 17–18 to start, then come down further.
• Wine nights, by name. "Friday, Saturday and Sunday" or "not Monday to Thursday". Deciding at 6 p.m. is where most plans give way.

For a sense of where the lines are, NIAAA describes drinking above 3 drinks on any day or 7 a week for women, and above 4 a day or 14 a week for men, as raising the risk of harm. A bottle shared between two people over one evening is about 2.5 drinks each; a bottle alone is about 5.

Step 3: Change how wine gets into the house

Most cutting back happens at the store, not at the table.

• Buy for the week's plan, not for the month. If you've planned 3 wine nights with a glass each, one bottle covers it. A case is a decision you'll have to make again every evening.
• Think twice about boxes. A 3 liter box holds 4 bottles and has no visible level, so it's very hard to keep track. If you buy one, log every glass.
• Try half bottles or cans. A 375 ml half bottle (about 2.5 drinks at 12%) or a single-serve can puts a natural stop on the evening.
• Keep it out of sight. Not on the counter, not in the door of the fridge you open for everything else.
• Have a stopper or a preserver. A vacuum stopper keeps an opened bottle drinkable for a few days, which takes away the "it'll go off" reason to finish it.

Step 4: Give the evening glass a replacement

For many people, wine isn't really about wine. It's the signal that the day is over, a reward after the kids are in bed, something to sip while cooking, or a way to switch off after a stressful call. That moment, your cue, will keep coming. Plan what happens at it instead.

Move the first glass later too. If wine usually starts at 6, make it 7:30 with dinner. Fewer hours means fewer glasses.

Not sure what your cue is? Our free drinking pattern quiz asks when and why you usually pour and names the pattern, for example the evening unwinder, in about 2 minutes.

Is non-alcoholic wine worth trying?

For some people, yes: it keeps the glass, the color and the ritual. In the US, a drink labeled "non-alcoholic" can contain up to 0.5% alcohol; "alcohol-free" means none. Most are made by removing the alcohol from finished wine, and taste varies a lot between bottles, with sparkling and rosé styles often closest to the real thing. Treat the first few as an experiment. Out for the evening? Our list of non-alcoholic drinks to order at a bar has the orders and the words to use.

Other ideas that fill the same moment: a spritzer (half wine, half soda water) to make one glass last longer, a lower-alcohol wine (some are 8–10%), kombucha, or sparkling water with a splash of juice in a wine glass.

One caution: if you're cutting out alcohol completely for health reasons, pregnancy or recovery, check with your doctor about drinks that still contain a little alcohol.

Drinking wine with a partner

Wine often belongs to a couple's evening: a bottle shared over dinner. That makes cutting back harder if only one of you wants to.

• Say what you're doing and why, in one sentence. "I want to sleep better, so I'm having wine three nights a week."
• Keep the ritual, change the drink. Sit down together with the same glasses at the same time; one of you has something else in it.
• Agree on the bottle. On shared nights, pour once each and put the cork back in.
• Don't ask them to change. Your plan works without their buy-in, and pressure rarely helps either of you.

A 4-week plan for cutting back on wine

This example starts from about two big glasses a night. Swap in your own numbers.

Keep logging. Seeing your weekly number come down is the first reward, before better sleep and easier mornings show up. If you have a night that goes over, log it, look at what set it off, and go back to the plan the next day. One evening doesn't undo the weeks before. For the general steps that apply to every drink, see how to cut back on drinking alcohol.

What you may notice when you drink less wine

• Sleep. Wine can help you nod off, but alcohol disturbs sleep later in the night. Many people notice fewer early-morning wake-ups after a couple of weeks.
• Calories. A 5 oz glass of table wine has about 120–125 calories (USDA FoodData Central). A big 9 oz pour is over 200. Cutting one big glass a night is roughly 1,500 calories a week.
• Money. Add up last month's wine receipts once; it's a useful number to watch fall.
• Health over time. The CDC links drinking less with lower risks of several conditions, including high blood pressure, liver disease and some cancers. Alcohol is a known cause of breast cancer, so this matters for women who drink wine most nights.

When to get more help

Talk to a doctor if you drink most days and feel shaky, sweaty, sick or very anxious when you skip it; if you've tried several times to cut back and can't keep to any limit; or if you need more and more wine to feel the same effect. Stopping suddenly after heavy daily drinking can cause withdrawal, which can be dangerous, so get advice before you cut down quickly. SAMHSA's free, confidential helpline is open around the clock: 1-800-662-4357.

Questions people ask

Is a bottle of wine a night too much?

A 750 ml bottle at 12% holds about 5 standard drinks. That is above NIAAA's daily lines for both women (3) and men (4), and 35 drinks a week is several times the weekly lines. If that's your usual, it's worth cutting back, and worth talking to a doctor first if you've done it daily for a long time. For one glass, two glasses and what counts as more than a habit, see is drinking wine every night a problem.

How many glasses are in a bottle of wine?

About five 5-ounce glasses. With a big home pour of 8–9 ounces, it's closer to three.

How do I stop craving wine every evening?

Cravings tend to come at the same time and place, so plan for that moment: a replacement drink in your usual glass, a change of scene, or a short walk. An urge rises and then fades if you don't act on it. Each evening you ride it out makes the next one a little easier.

Is red wine better than white when cutting back?

For cutting back, the color matters less than the strength and the pour. Many reds are 13.5–15% alcohol, so the same glass carries more alcohol than a lighter white. Check the label.

Should I switch to non-alcoholic wine?

It can help on your wine-free nights if the ritual is what you miss. If it makes you crave the real thing, use sparkling water or tea instead.

More on drinking less: all our drink-less guides.

Sources: NIAAA, Rethinking Drinking (what counts as a drink; cutting-down strategies) and "Drinking Levels Defined". Pechey R. et al., "Does wine glass size influence sales for on-site consumption?", BMC Public Health, 2016. US Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB), labeling of non-alcoholic and alcohol-free wine. USDA FoodData Central (calories in table wine). CDC, Alcohol Use and Your Health. National Cancer Institute, Alcohol and Cancer Risk. SAMHSA National Helpline, 1-800-662-4357. This guide is about habits and is not medical advice.