Bottle History

History of Port Wine Bottle 

For the first several thousand years, wine was stored in wooden barrels, leather bags, stoneware or pottery. All large, but varying in size, they were often sealed with a wood or leather plugs, or even a layer of olive oil, but only if the container didn’t have to be moved. For many reasons, these containers often leaked or contaminated the wine and it turned into vinegar or simply went bad. Besides, since the major means of transportation were wagons or ships, the containers were often spilled or broken. And, these containers were too large or bulky to be brought to the table so the wine was decanted into smaller vessels usually made from pottery. Glass containers were available, but they were very fragile and very expensive.

Early glass bottles were produced by the Phoenicians- specimens of Phoenician translucent and transparent glass bottles have been found in Cyprus and Rhodes generally varying in length from three to six inches. These Phoenician examples from the first millennium BC were thought to have been used for perfume. The Romans learned glass-making from the Phoenicians and produced many extant examples of fine glass bottles, mostly relatively small.

Around 1630 an Englishman by the name of Sir Kenelme Digby began making glass bottles in the coal mining country near Gloucestershire. He is credited as the inventor of the modern wine bottle. Almost immediately it became the vessel of choice, since it was inert and would not contaminate the wine, could be easily cleaned and could also used to both store and pour the wine. At first the bottles were round or squatty, and because they were still fragile, often had straw woven around them as protection. They kept that shape until someone discovered that some wines could improve with age if the bottles were laid on their sides to keep the stopper, usually wood or cork, moist. That was the impetus for a taller wine bottle that could be laid down for storage. It was also about that time that the bottle makers figured out how to produce bottles with a consistent neck opening, which allowed for the standardization of stoppers.

Making a tall bottle by hand was difficult, but in the 1700s the art improved and bottles became taller and taller until they finally began to look somewhat like today’s Bordeaux bottle – tall, with a shoulder area that rapidly narrowed to a thinner neck. This is what most all wine bottles looked like for the next several decades. Then around the beginning of the 19th century, the different wine regions, especially in France, started adopting different shaped bottles for their wine.

As the Romans advanced their techniques, they eventually discovered that the easy to blow onion-shape bottles they typically created weren't ideal for storing wine on its side, which helped it age and wet the cork. Thus, they began making longer, flatter bottles that were easier to carry and contained a standard amount  between 0.70 liters and 0.80 liters. This also helped standardize the amount of wine people purchased, though it wasn't until the 1800s that glass blowers exacted this technique. In the late 20th century, both the United States and the European Union set requirements that all bottles hold exactly 0.75 liters.

Bottle sizes:

Applying generally to wines other than Champagne

Split ..................................................... 187.5 ml

Half bottle ............................................. 375 ml     (aka Fillette)

Bottle ................................................... 750 ml

Magnum ............................................... 1.5 liter    (2 bottles)

Marie-Jeanne ........................................ 2.25 liters (3 bottles) (Red Bordeaux)

Double Magnum .................................... 3 liters     (4 bottles)

Jeroboam .............................................. 4.5 liters   (6 bottles)

Imperial ................................................ 6 liters      (8 bottles)

Applying to Champagne bottles

Split ...................................................... 200 ml

Half bottle ............................................. 375 ml

Pint ...................................................... 400 ml

Bottle .................................................... 800 ml

Magnum ................................................ 1.5 liter      (2 bottles)

Jeroboam ............................................... 3 liters       (4 bottles) (& Burgundy)

Rehoboam ............................................. 4.5 liters    (6 bottles) (& Burgundy)

Methuselah ............................................. 6 liters      (8 bottles) (& Burgundy)

Salmanazar ............................................. 9 liters      (12 bottles)

Balthazar ................................................ 12 liters    (16 bottles)

Nebuchadnezzar ...................................... 15 liters    (20 bottles)