1. Going in on a wine become mandatory next year. 24 people = 12 bottles. No exceptions. Details have to be hashed out. For those that attended last year, we had 12 people, and we tasted wine in flights. This was enjoyable. We could sit and enjoy a wine, rather than drinking or spitting, then getting the next glass. I wouldn't necessarily call drinking and spitting fun.
A no go for me. It means exclusion of everything under $70/bottle, and gets a little too precious, and also leaves out a world of excellent wine, and would have excluded almost if not everything I've contributed over the past near-decade. I like trying 20-ish things. 12 bottles of wine also means a total of 2 generous glasses per person, total, for 3+ hours (including any starting bubbles and ending dessert). Not enough. People who don't want something can simply pass. We don't end up with a lot of excess wine. You may also find that if you're sitting (and not getting up to do all the pouring) that your "sitting and enjoying" time will be more "sitting and enjoying."
2. For WineDo 11, we had 12 attendees and called it a day. If you were there, you enjoyed dinner. This isn't meant to sound harsh, so I hope this is read in the spirit (no pun intended) offered.
It is nice to see "up to 23" other attendees, most of whom I see annually, or less frequently. 12 is more like a private dinner party. If only 12 want to come, that is one thing.
3. Feel free to put in your advice. Brainstorming always yields good ideas.
You asked for my 2¢. You got 3¢.
Might I suggest (and there might be just a touch of room on the tables) that we all get 4 wine glasses each to start. This permits a lot more wine to be sampled during food time. If, for instance, 4 Bandol Rouges were to be poured within a short time of each other, I could compare and contrast all of them with my lamb chops. Another suggestion is to have a few commitments for pre-departure bubbles. The bubbles selection was sparse this year, and during "meet / greet / seat" time, 24 people can easily down 3 or 4 bottles without actually consuming very much. It also provides better opportunity for "going in on a bottle" with someone. IM(nsh)O, a $70+ bottle of bubbles (as opposed to 2 $35s) is going to be much more satisfying in comparison to many $70+ bottles of still wine.
Keep it simple.
I think we're up to 5¢ now.