KEY POINTS:
Super-sized servings and gigantic glasses are tricking wine-lovers into drinking much more than they think.
Fashionable goblets seen everywhere from family restaurants to kitchenware stores can hold up to six standard 100ml drinks - and generous bartenders are serving up to two standard drinks with every pour.
Health authorities are worried by the trend, which is backed by a Herald on Sunday survey.
We randomly selected four popular Auckland bars to visit on Thursday night and ordered a glass of wine at each. The largest serving, at Grey Lynn's Malt bar, was 200ml - or two standard drinks.
By the end of the night, we had been poured four wines, totalling 690ml, more than nine standard drinks, based on an alcohol by volume rating of 13.5 per cent.
Even the smallest serving poured, at the Viaduct's Degree Gastrobar, was 150ml, 1 1/2 standard drinks.
Not every bartender seemed to know just how much they were pouring. When we asked how much was in the glass poured at the Loaded Hog, the reply was: "I have no idea."
Loaded Hog duty manager Nameel Reddy said the bar was changing all its wine glasses and the new ones would have a line at the 150ml mark to help staff pour the right amounts.
Malt duty manager Kristin Mischler said some junior staff found it difficult to guess how much they were pouring, but was surprised the glass of wine given to the Herald on Sunday was so full. "That's not normally how it's done."
She said all staff were taught the correct measurement and sometimes an employee might pour more if they were finishing off a bottle. "But it would put our stocktake of wine, which is done in 150ml glass measurements, out if we did that all the time."
Soul Bar & Bistro bar manager Mark Holland said the restaurant used a 540ml glass and the bar used a 410ml glass. A normal pour would be about 160ml.
Holland said it would be seen as "bit gauche" to fill up such a large glass. "And obviously we pour to a certain point because we don't want to give the stuff away."
Alcohol Healthwatch director Rebecca Williams told the Herald on Sunday the move to big glasses was bad news.
She said large wine glasses were once restricted to fine dining restaurants, where sommeliers would pour amounts some guests might view as stingy. They had since become mainstream and are used at family taverns and sold at standard kitchenware stores.
"They look lovely, but, particularly for women, who are the primary wine drinkers, it's quite a worrying kind of trend." Williams said. "Sometimes they hold up to four or five standard drinks."
Williams said bars serving alcohol in standard-drink-sized glasses would help patrons and staff to monitor consumption. While it would be difficult to force bars and restaurants to use smaller glasses, it was important for patrons to keep glass size in mind when having a tipple.
She said in New Zealand it was difficult for the industry to expand unless it could convince as many people as possible to drink "just that little bit more".
British health officials this month warned that giant goblets were worsening the country's binge-drinking culture.
And in Australia, the federal Government is introducing standard-drink logos on wine bottles after a study by the National Drug Research Institute.
The research found wine drinkers, especially women, were drinking up to twice as much as they thought.
In New Zealand, Alac chief executive Gerard Vaughan said prices in licensed premises were normally an indication of serving size.
"But off licensed premises, when you are filling your own drink or a generous host thinks not filling it right up looks a bit miserly, is when drinkers can get caught out."
During Alac research, focus group members were asked to pour what they thought was a standard drink.
The study found that, on average, beer drinkers consumed 1 1/4 times more alcohol than they thought and wine and spirit drinkers consumed twice as much as they thought.
"Overall, the group surveyed were actually consuming 1.6 times more alcohol on average than they thought they were."
Auckland City road policing manager Inspector Heather Wells said large glasses affected drink-driving, too. When drivers said they'd only had one glass of wine, it didn't mean they wouldn't be intoxicated - even if they were telling the truth.
"Some glasses fit nearly half a bottle. You have two glasses and you've had a whole bottle."
Wells said it was possible the bigger glasses also encouraged people to guzzle back faster than intended.
"It certainly doesn't help issues all round. Before you know it, you're over the limit."
