Let’s begin with size. It was only in 1979 that the U.S. adopted the metric system for wine and liquor bottles, which conformed to European practices, so that the standard wine bottle became 750 ml (about 5 glasses of wine). Wine bottles range from very small to enormous.
A split or piccolo is equivalent to 187.5 ml (one glass of wine), a half or demi is a 375 ml half bottle (2.5 glasses of wine), with the giants, historically named for biblical kings, like Nebuchadnezzar and Melchizedek/Midas, which hold, respectively, 15 liters (20 standard bottles), and 30 liters (40 standard bottles). I don’t think I could even lift one of these giants. Other than a magnum (two bottles) or perhaps a Jeroboam/Double Magnum (four bottles), the other large formats are usually for display or collectors who just like to say they have them.
Now consider shapes. Standard bottles today vary primarily based upon European wine producing regional history and the tradition of making wine with certain types of grapes. It’s not based on any wine being better or worse based on bottle shape.
Chardonnays and Pinot Noirs are examples from Burgundy and those bottles are wider at the base and have shorter necks. Wines from the Rhone region of France are similar to Burgundy but a little taller. Champagne, elsewhere called sparkling wine, uses bottles that are similar to Burgundy but with thicker glass to deal with the carbonation pressure, a slimmer neck and a wider lip to strengthen the closure.
The great Bordeaux wines serve as the historic cornerstone for the most common shape for bottles worldwide today, straight-sided, fairly tall with sharp, high shoulders. Think of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Sauvignon Blanc as examples. And then there’s Germany, Austria and the Alsace region of France where white wines such as Pinot Blanc, Gruner Veltliner, Riesling and others have a bottle shape that is thinner and distinctively taller.
Regional bottle shapes having started in Europe, for the most part have been adopted throughout the world based upon the grape type and style being produced, so for example, a Cabernet Sauvignon bottle is pretty much the same world-wide.
And what about punts? No, it’s not 4th down and long. It’s that small indentation on the bottom of many wine bottles (Champagne has a larger, deeper one). While a number of reasonable theories exist and there are some benefits to bottle punts, their history likely goes back to the days when glass-blowers made wine bottles and they needed the indentation as the seam cut-point so that the bottle wouldn’t have a rough bottom.
And the weight of a wine bottle? Other than for Champagne, extra glass thickness and weight is more of a marketing and sales ploy to suggest that wine in such bottles is better and worth a higher price. What about the higher production and shipping costs of heavier bottles? Well, you pay for it and so does our environment.
Cheers!
-Submitted by Jim Wolitarsky
(Image credits: Pixabay.com and Vinepair.com)