Wine bottle

A bottle showing the transparent green of many wine bottles
A square wine bottle.

A wine bottle is a bottle used for holding wine, generally made of glass. Some wines are fermented in the bottle, others are bottled only after fermentation.

Recently, the bottle has become a standard unit of volume to describe sales in the wine industry, measuring 750 millilitres (26.40 imp fl oz; 25.36 US fl oz). However, bottles are produced in a variety of volumes and shapes.

Wine bottles are traditionally sealed with cork, but screw-top caps are becoming popular, and there are several other methods used to seal a bottle.[1][2][3]

Sizes

Many traditional wine bottle sizes are named for Biblical kings and historical figures. The chart below[4] lists the sizes of various wine bottles in multiples relating to a standard bottle of wine, which is 0.75 litres (0.20 US gal; 0.16 imp gal) (five 150 mL servings). The "wineglassful"—an official unit of the apothecaries' system of weights—is much smaller at 2.5 imp fl oz (71 ml).

Most champagne houses are unable to carry out secondary fermentation in bottles larger than a magnum due to the difficulty in riddling large, heavy bottles. After the secondary fermentation completes, the champagne must be transferred from the magnums into larger bottles, which results in a loss of pressure. Some believe this re-bottling exposes the champagne to greater oxidation and therefore results in an inferior product compared to champagne which remains in the bottle in which it was fermented.[5]

Volume (litres) Ratio Name Notes ChampagneBordeauxBurgundy
0.1875 0.25 Piccolo "Small" in Italian. Also known as a quarter bottle, pony, snipe or split. Yes
0.2 0.2667 Quarter Used for Champagne Yes[6]
0.25 0.33 Chopine Traditional French unit of volume Yes
0.375 0.5 Demi "Half" in French. Also known as a half bottle. Yes "Half"[6] Yes Yes
0.378 0.505 Tenth One tenth of a US gallon*
0.5 0.67 Jennie
Also known as a 50 cl bottle. Used for Tokaj, Sauternes, Jerez, as well as several other types of sweet wines. Yes "Demie" or "Pinte"[6]
0.620 0.83 Clavelin Primarily used for vin jaune.
0.750 1 Standard Yes[6]Yes Yes
0.757 1.01 Fifth One-fifth of a US gallon*
1.0 1.33 Litre Popular size for Austrian wines.
1.5 2 Magnum Yes[6] Yes Yes
2.25 3 Marie Jeanne Also known as a Tregnum or Tappit Hen in the port wine trade. Yes
3.0 4 Jeroboam (a.k.a. Double Magnum) Biblical, First king of Northern Kingdom. "Jeroboam" has different meanings (that is, indicates different sizes) for different regions in France.[7]Yes[6] Yes Yes
4.5 6 Yes
4.5 6 Rehoboam Biblical, First king of separate JudeaYes[6] Yes
5.0 6.67 McKenzie Uncommon, primarily found in France Yes
6.0 8 Imperial Yes
6.0 8 Methuselah Biblical, Oldest Man Yes[6] Yes
9.0 12 Salmanazar Biblical, Assyrian KingYes[6] Yes Yes
12.0 16 Balthazar or Belshazzar [8] One of three Wise Men (according to legend) to present gifts at Jesus' nativity; Belshazzar can also denote the co-regent of Babylon during the madness of Nebuchadnezzar, for whom the next-larger bottle size is named. Yes[6] Yes Yes
15.0 20 Nebuchadnezzar[9] Biblical, King of Babylon Yes[6] Yes Yes
18.0 24 Melchior One of three Wise Men (according to legend) to present gifts at Jesus' nativity Yes Yes Yes
18.0 24 Solomon Biblical, King of Israel, Son of David Yes[6]
26.25 35 Sovereign Reportedly created by Taittinger in 1988 for the launch of the then world's largest cruise liner Sovereign of the Seas[10] Yes[6]
27.0 36 Primat or Goliath Biblical, stoned by David Yes[6]
30.0 40 Melchizedek or Midas Biblical, King of SalemYes[6]

* For many years, the US standard (non-metric) wine and liquor bottle was the "fifth", meaning one-fifth of a US gallon, or 25.6 US fluid ounces (757 ml; 26.6 imp fl oz). Some beverages also came in tenth-gallon, half-gallon and one-gallon sizes. In 1979, the US adopted the metric system for wine bottles, with the basic bottle becoming 750 ml, as in Europe.

Shapes

Wine producers in Portugal, Italy, Spain, France and Germany follow the tradition of their local areas in choosing the shape of bottle most appropriate for their wine.

Many North and South American, South African, and Australasian wine producers select the bottle shape with which they wish to associate their wines. For instance, a producer who believes his wine is similar to Burgundy may choose to bottle his wine in Burgundy-style bottles.

Other producers (both in and out of Europe) have chosen idiosyncratic bottle styles for marketing purposes. Pere-Anselme markets its Châteauneuf-du-Pape in bottles that appear half-melted. The Moselland company of Germany has a riesling with a bottle in the shape of a house cat.

The home wine maker may use any bottle, as the shape of the bottle does not affect the taste of the finished product. The sole exception is in producing sparkling wine, where thicker-walled bottles should be used to handle the excess pressure.

Most wine bottles standards have a bore (inner neck) diameter of 18.5 at the mouth of the bottle and increase to 21 mm before expanding into the full bottle.

Colors

The traditional colors used for wine bottles are:

Clear colorless bottles have recently become popular with white wine producers in many countries, including Greece, Canada and New Zealand. Dark-colored bottles are most commonly used for red wines, but many white wines also still come in dark green bottles. The main reason for using colored or tinted glass is that natural sunlight can break down desirable antioxidants such as vitamin c and tannins in a wine over time, which affects storability and can cause a wine to prematurely oxidise. Dark glass can prevent oxidation and increase storage life. It is therefore mostly ready-to-drink white wines with a short anticipated storage lifespan which are bottled in clear colorless bottles.

Foils and netting

A paper strip beneath the foil

Commercial corked wine bottles typically have a protective sleeve called a foil (commonly referred to as a "capsule") covering the top of the bottle, the purpose of which is to protect the cork from being gnawed away by rodents or infested with the cork weevil and to serve as collar to catch small drips when pouring. The foil also serves as a decorative element of the bottle's label. Foils were historically made of lead; however, because of research showing that trace amounts of toxic lead could remain on the lip of the bottle and mix with the poured wine,[11] lead foil bottleneck wrapping were slowly phased out, and by the 1990s,[12] most foils were made of tin, heat-shrink plastic (polyethylene or PVC), or aluminium or polylaminate aluminium. Sealing wax is sometimes used, or the foil can be omitted entirely.[13] In the US, the FDA officially banned lead foils on domestic and imported wine bottles as of 1996.[14]

Some bottles of wine have a paper strip beneath the foil, as a seal of authenticity, which must be broken before the bottle can be uncorked.

Bottles of high-end Rioja wine may have a covering of gold wire netting, Spaniard Camilo Hurtado de Amézaga, Marqués de Riscal founded a winery in Rioja, in 1858, naming it after his own noble title, which had been created in 1708 by Philip V. He produced award-winning wines which became the preferred wines of King Alfonso XII. Camilo Hurtado de Amézaga invented a wire netting that covered his bottle, thereby preventing counterfeiters from substituting the wine, since it was impossible to remove the netting without breaking it. Modern day bottles of Rioja carry a much finer wire netting as a decoration.[15]

Punts

An empty (Bordeaux-style) wine bottle with a punt at its base.

A punt, also known as a kick-up, refers to the dimple at the bottom of a wine bottle. There is no consensus explanation for its purpose. The more commonly cited explanations include:[1]

Environmental impact

Glass retains its color on recycling, and the United Kingdom has a large surplus of green glass because it imports a large quantity of wine but produces very little. 1.4 million tons are sent to landfill annually.[18]

Glass is a relatively heavy packing material and wine bottles use quite thick glass, so the tare weight of a full wine bottle is a relatively high proportion of its gross weight. The average weight of an empty 750 ml wine bottle is 500 g (and can range from 300 to 900 g), which makes the glass 40% of the total weight of the full bottle.[19] This has led to suggestions that wine should be exported in bulk from producer regions and bottled close to the market. This would reduce the cost of transportation and its carbon footprint, and provide a local market for recycled green glass.[20][21] Less radically, box wine is sold in large-size light cardboard and foil containers, though its use has been restricted to cheaper products in the past and as such retains a stigma. Following declining sales of wine boxes in the UK, in 2009 the Office for National Statistics removed them from its Consumer Price Index measure of inflation.[22] Some wine producers are exploring more alternative packagings such as plastic bottles and tetra packs.

See also

References

  1. 1 2 Johnson, Hugh (2004). The Story of Wine. Sterling Publishing. ISBN 1-84000-972-1.
  2. Jackson, Ron (1997). Conserve Water, Drink Wine: Recollections of a Vinous Voyage of Discovery. Haworth Press. ISBN 1-56022-864-4.
  3. MacNeil, Karen (2001). The Wine Bible. Workman. ISBN 1-56305-434-5.
  4. "Wine 101: Wine Bottle Sizes and Designations". Retrieved 26 November 2014.
  5. "Champagne Bottle Sizes". Retrieved 11 April 2014.
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 "Different bottle styles". The Comité Champagne. Comité Interprofessionnel du vin de Champagne. Retrieved 23 December 2014.
  7. "Jeroboam Wine Facts". Retrieved 26 December 2008.
  8. "Balthazar, n.". Oxford English Dictionary. Forms: Also Balthasar, Belshazzar.
  9. Manser, Martin H.; Pickering, David H., eds. (2003). The Facts On File dictionary of classical and biblical allusions. New York, NY: Checkmark Books. p. 257. ISBN 9780816048687.
  10. "Champagne bottle sizes". BigbBottles.co.uk. Retrieved 23 December 2014.
  11. Fisher, Lawrence M. (2 August 1991). "Lead Levels in Many Wines Exceed U.S. Standards for Water". The New York Times. Retrieved 2 January 2010.
  12. "CFR - Code of Federal Regulations Title 21". FDA U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Retrieved 27 June 2015.
  13. "30 Second Wine Advisor". wineloverspage.com. Retrieved 2 January 2010.
  14. "Justia :: 21 C.F.R. § 189.301 Tin-coated lead foils for wine bottles". Law.justia.com. 8 February 1996. Retrieved 2 January 2010.
  15. (MacNeil 2001)
  16. 1 2 "Punt Wine Bottle Indentation". Wineintro.com. Retrieved 2 January 2010.
  17. Hickman, Leo (9 May 2006). "Is it OK ... to drink wine?". The Guardian. Retrieved 22 November 2007.
  18. "The WRAP Wine Initiative" (PDF). Retrieved 14 September 2011.
  19. Lamb, Garth. "Carbon copy". Waste Management & Environment. Retrieved 22 November 2007. If wine was imported in bulk vats and then bottled locally, the market for the most beneficial recycling option would increase.
  20. "New Wine Bottle Project" (Press release). British Glass. 15 September 2006. Retrieved 22 November 2007.
  21. "Chicken in the basket of UK goods". BBC. Retrieved 15 November 2013. Wine boxes, MP3 players and rentals from DVD hire shops have been removed to make way, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said.

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