Sipper or a Gulper?

Having never found it difficult to polish off a 750mL bottle in one sitting (... with a friend or two helping), the rise of new startups and product lines aimed at changing the average serving size of wine piqued my interest. From Blue Apron's 500mL bottle to the $2,000 Plum at-home appliance (a venture-backed "fully automatic home wine preservation system and dispenser"), it seems like there is a strategy underway to target American consumers in smaller formats. I wondered: how much wine does the average consumer drink in each sitting?

Aside from this tidbit that, on average, it takes 2 people 2.5 hours to finish a full bottle of wine, it turns out there is not a lot of information out there on wine consumers' preferred size formats (WineFolly). 

Curiously, though, there is a niche body of related research on "micro-drinking behaviors". That is, researchers have studied how various factors (such as wine glass size and shape - see Julie's great post for a primer) affect consumption rate. Using cameras, they have tracked total drinking time, sip number, sip duration, and sip rate - with some interesting findings: 

• Increasing glass size from 250ml to 370 ml had the preliminary effect of increasing total wine sales by 10%
• At the same time, wine served in larger glasses is consumed more slowly (over more sips) than wine in smaller glasses - so customers might tend to linger longer and spend more when drinking out of a large glass
• Beer served in curved glasses has a faster drinking rate with more frequent sips (BMC Psychology)