Vessels for The Vine to The Glass
Until the middle of the 17th Century, wine was still being drawn from a wooden cask and served from a pot jug. Then came the wine bottle revolution after it was discovered that cork could act as a seal in a container, allowing the wine to age without spoiling, and allowing it to be stored without being spilled.
It is Sir Kenelm Digby, a tumultuous adventurer, privateer, and alchemist, who is widely regarded as “the father of the modern bottle.” Initially, the bottles had thick bottoms and short necks, but as time went on, the neck grew and lengthened while the bottom slimmed. By the 1820s, they resembled the current wine bottles that we are familiar with. In 1821, Rickets of Bristol filed a patent for a machine that produced identically sized bottles in a design that we recognize today.
In terms of safe storage and transportation, whilst maintaining the quality of the wine inside, it’s clear that the glass bottle is still the best option. While today’s bottles come in various styles, basic bottles accommodate 750ml of wine. Slightly larger and smaller bottles, made in accordance with regional customs, are still available, but their use has become increasingly rare.
The size of the wine bottles always matters during the production process. It should be noted that while a little oxygen is beneficial to the ageing process as well as the taste of wine, too much oxidation could cause deterioration. The headspace of air between the wine and the bottom of the cork is referred to as ouillage in French. Because corks do not establish a completely airtight barrier, some liquid is lost through evaporation as the wine ages.
Hence, the risk for wine to be exposed to dangerous levels of oxidation grows with the rise of ouillage. This is the reason why some experts argue that magnums (usually twice the size of a typical bottle) are better for storing wine due to their increased capacity. For instance, the amount of liquid in a magnum compared to the ouillage level is twice that of a traditional 750ml bottle.
There are definite pros and cons of larger bottles: larger bottles tend to let the wine develop a more nuanced flavour and a deeper complexity than a smaller bottle, resisting temperature changes more easily. However, the bigger wine bottles require specialised racking with wider spacing for safer storage.
Each of the differently sized wine bottles has a distinctive name and it is usually biblically inspired. An interesting diversion away from this is The Winston Churchill, named after the UK’s Prime Minister during the Second World War; the bottle contained around 570ml, which was the volume of champagne that Churchill would drink each and every morning.
The Standard Bottle, Half Bottle/Demi, Quarter Bottle/Split, Chopin, Jennie, Magnum
The standard wine bottle holds 750ml and remains the most popular size. The Half Bottle – called the Demi – holds375 ml. The Quarter Bottle – the smallest available – is known as a Piccolo or Split bottle, and it holds half of that again – 187ml – which is the equivalent to a generous glass of wine. When we start going in the other direction in terms of size, a Chopine is a third of a bottle – 250ml (one and a half glasses) while a Jennie is double the size of that at 500 ml (three glasses). The more familiar Magnum is the size of two standard wine bottles, holding 1.5 litres of wine. With a Magnum size bottle, the wine is most commonly Champagne.
Jeroboam, Rehoboam, McKenzie, Methuselah, Salmanazar
And the sizes go up but this is just the start! A jeroboam – a Double Magnum – holds 3litres of wine, the equivalent of 4 standard bottles. A Bordeaux Jeroboam holds 5 litres.Up from that, a Rehoboam holds 4.5 litres (six bottles), the rarer McKenzie holds 5 litres (seven bottles), a Methuselah – also known as an Imperial bottle - holds 6 litres (eight bottles), and a Salmanzar bottle holds 9 litres (12 standard bottles).
Balthazar, Nebuchadnezzar, Melchior, Solomon
Just over halfway on the bottle scale, a Balthazar can hold up to 12 litres of wine (16 bottles) and a Nebuchanezzar holds an amazing 15 litres (20 bottles) and weighs around 83 pounds . A Melchior bottle holds 18 litres of wine (24 bottles) and the gigantic Solomon bottle holds 20 litres of wine, the equivalent of 26 standard bottles.
Balthazar, Nebuchadnezzar, Melchior, Solomon
Towards the absolute top end of the bottle scale is the Sovereign, holding a mind-blowing 25 litres of wine (33.3 standard bottles). But bigger than that, the Primat or The Goliath bottle holds 27 litres (36 bottles) and weighs an astounding 143 pounds. Nearly topping the lot – but not quite - is the Melchizedek, also known as the Midas, holding an absolutely unbelievable 30 litres, the equivalent of 40 standard bottles. It stands at 4 feet tall and serves 240 glasses of wine. These are obviously very rare, not to mention impractical and expensive. Incredibly, that isn’t the very biggest bottle in existence. The aptly named Maximus takes that accolade containing – wait for it – 130 litres! That is actually the equivalent of 920 glasses. A waiter’s nightmare but truly astonishing.
The bottles that we use most around the world are the Bordeaux bottle with its tall shoulders, straight sides, and deep punt, and the Burgundy bottle, wider than theBordeaux with sloping shoulders. These are recognised as the standard bottle sizes forwine. And whilst larger sized bottles are considered the perfect accompaniment for a special occasion, the standard-sized wine bottle still rules. And in general terms, glass wine bottles are unlikely to be replaced by anything else anytime soon. The bottle connects us to something more. All of the stories, history and significance that wine has makes it so much more than a drink, and bottles remain, as they have done throughout history, the perfect vessel to hold them all.
