Wines & Spirits : a story of the bottle

Mandatory container for wines, do you know what is behind the bottle you buy at auction? Its shape and capacity are the result of a long evolution.

Originally, we used a skinskin that easily attaches to the saddle of horses. These leather gourds were called "Boutiaux" or "boutilles" hence the name bottle.

The Italians, ahead of glass making, exported flat glass bottles surrounded by woven wicker. From the 17th century, France produced its own bottles, the shape of which would change over time and depending on the region. At the beginning low and rather round, the bottles are refined and designed according to local specificities. From 1800, the Bordeaux form and the Champagne form were already reported. At the end of the XIXth century, mechanization will allow a standardization of the different types of bottles.

Today, there are mainly four types: the Burgundian, the Bordeaux, the Champagne and the Rhine wine bottle.
If the capacity was slightly different depending on the region, the 75 cl bottle is used early for Bordeaux and Burgundy bottles among others, while the Côtes de Provence contained 73 cl. Since 1985, European regulations have imposed a capacity of 75 cl except for the clavelin, 62 cl, reserved for yellow wine from the Jura.

In Champagne, the capacities are varied: magnum (1.5 l), Jeroboam (3 l), Réhoboam (4.5 l), Mathusalem (6 l), Salmanazar (9 l). Beyond 10 l there is no longer any regulation, the Balthazar is equivalent to 16 bottles and the Nabuchodonosor contains 20 bottles. In Bordeaux we find the magnum, the double magnum (3 l), the Jeroboam (4 l) and the Imperial (6 l).
To remember the Champagne contents, remember a mnemonic sentence: "Because early in the morning I hardly noticed its natural banality"

(Quart / Half / Bottle / Magnum / Jeroboam / Rehauboam / Mathusalem / Salmanasar / Balthazar / Nabuchodonosor)