Serving double standards: wines by the glass

We were recently in Italy where the pour was usually about 170 millilitres. In Melbourne it seems to be only 100 millilitres. I guess this is designed to encourage/force punters to order more - but, at prices rarely less than $10 a glass, that can become quite expensive. Is there a standard for the amount of wine served by the glass? Why might this be different in countries such as Italy?

When it comes to doing anything with gusto, from family lunches to political scandals, Italy is in a class of its own. If dodgy travel claims were an Olympic event I have no doubt that the estimable Signor Berlusconi would treat colleagues' weddings as a mere warm-up before blitzing the field with bunga bunga invoices gussied up as conference expenses.

So it is with standard alcohol measures. Where Australian authorities class 100 millilitres of wine as a ''standard drink'', Italy's National Research Institute for Food and Nutrition states that a standard ''alcohol unit'' is 125 millilitres. In both countries the official measure falls short of what is typically poured in a restaurant. Wine importer Michael Trembath has spent up to six weeks each year in Italy for the past couple of decades and agrees with your observation that restaurants there don't stint on pours; however he suspects that the measure may often be closer to 150 millilitres (five glasses a bottle) than the 170 millilitres you've cited. In Melbourne, meanwhile, there are still plenty of places pouring at 150 millilitres, although I'm increasingly seeing - especially at the top end of the market, and most noticeably where champagnes and dessert wines are concerned - pours of 120 or 100 millilitres.

If the volume is stated on the wine list, a practice I support, you know in advance what you'll get for your money and can choose accordingly.

Your letter (edited for space reasons) mentions that your wife cannot drink wine, so the potentially more economical option of ordering a bottle is unlikely to work for you unless you're out in a group. Nevertheless, when the pour size is listed it allows you to work out whether a glass is fairly priced compared with a bottle.