Archive December 1, 2006

Size Matters

Did you ever wonder about the sizes of wine bottles? Well one of you did. Read on and learn more.

Dear Lynne:

With the holidays coming up, maybe you could enlighten me to the “larger” sizes of wine bottles which might make for a special gift. Now I’m not talking about the jug stuff, but the “special” or ceremonial bottles of wine and Champagne we see. I understand that there are particular names that apply to these sizes. Can you fill me in?

Best regards from Arizona,
Chris

Dear Chris:

That's a great question. Most people have no idea of just how many different sizes there are out there.

Wine is, of course, a wonderful gift to give (and even more fun to receive!) And what could be better than one bottle of wine? A double bottle of wine....yee- haw!

The different bottle sizes can be confusing. So, we’ve created the table below that describes the names and sizes of bottles. Oddly enough most are named after Biblical Kings.

The most common larger-size bottle to give is a “Magnum” (which equals 2 regular 750 ml bottles). It's easy to open and pour and you can purchase it in many wine stores, even some grocery stores. And being big it's always a crowd pleaser.

Some of the larger bottles like the “Double Magnum” (4 bottles) and the “Imperial” (8 bottles) are made specifically for aging wine. The small amount of air in the bottle (between the cork and the wine) relative to the amount of wine in the bottle slows down the aging.

There are some bottles you can't get anywhere anymore. And some you can only purchase through the vineyard itself. There are those special bottles that you could get at a fancy smanchy auction if you so desire. My recommendation is to call your favorite wine stores and see if they have them or if they can you in lead the right direction.

I personally have never seen a Soverign (67 bottles), but it's fun to imagine what it would look like!

Cheers & Happy Holidays,
Lynne

• Bottle Name - Contents
• Pony - 189 ml
• Half Bottle or Split -375 ml
• Bottle - 750 ml
• Magnum - 1.5L (2 bottles)
• Marie-Jean - 2.25L (3 bottles)
• Double Magnum - 3.0L (4 bottles)
• Jeroboam (sparkling wine) - 3.0L (4 bottles)
• Reboboam (red wines) - 4.5L (6 bottles)
• Imperial - 6.0L (8 bottles)

• Methuselah (sparkling) - 6.0L (8 bottles)
• Salmanazar - 9.0L (12 bottles)
• Balthazar - 12.0L (16 bottles)
• Nebuchadnezzar - 15.0L (20 bottles)
• Soverign - 50L (67 bottles)

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