Real-Life Math
Wine wasn't always your passion. But during college, you were
introduced to the nuances of wine. Slowly, you worked your way into a career
as a sommelier. Once you finished college, becoming a sommelier was an obvious
choice.
So, you studied wine, immersed yourself in the flavors, smells
and history, and eventually passed the sommelier exam. What you didn't
know at the time was that you would end up using other skills completely unrelated
to the flavors of wine -- like figuring the number of bottles that you'll
need to host a tasting.
That, in fact, is what you're doing today.
The winery for which you are working is just releasing a new vintage of wine.
And to help publicize the wine, the company wants to host a tasting for 15
national food and wine reviewers. You've planned an affair that will
include food, the wine, dessert and a discussion of the wine.
Caterers
will provide the food, so you don't have to worry about portioning for
that. But since the wine is coming from your winery, you are responsible for
ensuring there will be enough at the tasting. If there isn't enough wine
for all the participants to adequately enjoy it with the food that will be
served, the reviews won't be good.
Assuming that all 15 people
show up for the tasting, you need to know how many bottles of wine you'll
need. Each bottle contains 1 liter of wine, or about 32 ounces. The average
glass of wine is about 4 ounces. So if you're serving those 15 people
2 glasses of wine each, how many bottles of wine will you need to have at
the tasting?
Joseph Spellman is a master sommelier. He says that although
only general math skills are required to become a sommelier, you should still
gain as much skill as you can. "Don't become a wine geek. Have a broad
approach to learning because you can develop a very specialized career out
of a general education."