It reached the top 10 in the United Kingdom, Ireland, Iceland, New Zealand, South Africa, Australia, Canada, and Sweden and entered the charts in various other countries.

[6][7] She viewed "I Drink Wine" as reminiscent of the work of Elton John and Bernie Taupin and wrote it for herself and a friend during a time when she was taking things too personally.

[8][9] Its first verse was inspired by an emotional six-hour conversation she had with James Corden while returning home from a shared family trip, in which he expressed being overpowered by "work stuff and the internet, and all those things".

[13][14] Upon the reveal, the song received attention on the Internet and began trending on Twitter,[15][16] as fans speculated it was the track Adele had alluded to in an earlier interview with British Vogue: "Oh, that is destruction, It's me going out and getting drunk at a bar.

[19] Adele revealed that three songs were in contention for release as the lead single, including one she described as "very sort of '70s, like piano, singer-songwriter-y, [with] a whole band on it, but just very Carpenters, like very Elton".

Randy Merrill mastered it, Matt Scatchell and Tom Elmhirst mixed it, and Steve Churchyard, Alex Pasco, and Julian Burg engineered it.

[25][26] The New York Times's Jon Pareles described the song as "churchy", and Pitchfork's Jillian Mapes called it "take-me-to-church chardonnay realness".

Critics compared the song to the work of John; Mapes described it as: "an Elton John-style barroom singalong with strong gospel undertones and an introspective voice memo at the end".

[25][28][31] The Guardian's Alexis Petridis thought it recalled Carole King, and Clash's Robin Murray considered it akin to ballads recorded by Tom Waits in the 1970s.

"[34] Willman described it as "a doozy of a marital postgame recap", and The Daily Telegraph's Neil McCormick likened it to "the transcription of a breakthrough session with a marriage guidance counsellor".

"[34] Also from Rolling Stone, Brittany Spanos stated that it was one of the best songs of her already-legendary career: "a gorgeous power ballad that sees a pop deity come down to Earth".

Club thought Adele successfully expanded her sound with "I Drink Wine", delivering vocals that "run wild" and build up to purgative relief in the final chorus.

[40] Though El Hunt of NME felt the song's title and gospel influences were promising, he concluded its "cheesy-sounding percussion transforms it into Savvy B: The Musical".

[29] Murray positively reviewed the song's lyrics, describing them as a gaze into the remoteness of life in Los Angeles, where "even the simplest journey can find you trapped in gridlock – emotionally or otherwise".

[28] Writing for The Los Angeles Times, Mikael Wood thought "I Drink Wine" could not deliver the foppish "millennials confession" its title promised.

[42] "I Drink Wine" debuted at its peak of number four on the UK Singles Chart issued on 26 November 2021 and received a Platinum certification from the British Phonographic Industry.

[66] Adele appeared in a promotional video with NikkieTutorials in December 2021, where she described it as "fucking hilarious", and added that "it's the campiest thing you'll ever see, and I feel like everyone might be dressed up as Halloween for it next year".

[67] On 25 October 2022, she shared an eight-second teaser of the video, which shows someone playing the piano on a bridge while she floats on a boat under it, and announced that it would be released the following day.

Variety's Jem Aswad remarked it was "pitch-perfect, intense where it needed to be, with finger-pointing emphasis and a defiant grimace on the line, 'Why am I seeking approval from people I don't even know?'".

[79][80] Tomás Mier of Rolling Stone described the performance as an astonishing rendition and thought Adele undemandingly hit every note to perfection and looked stunning.

Heran Mamo of Billboard stated she perched atop the piano "like it was her throne" and was elevated by her backup dancers clad in complementing shiny black outfits.