Size Does Count
The classic wine bottle holds 750 ml. of wine, though you can find some sparklers in bottles as small as 187.5 ml., and some stills and sparklers in gigantic bottles holding up to 27 liters. Only infrequently will you find a person that has actually memorized the sizes and names of available bottles, as well as the amount of wine each holds, and it isn’t an important skill. However, there are mnemonics (memory enhancers) that do allow people to spout out some of the classifications in order, and hearing some of these (which are not always in the best of taste) can make for a fun time. Fairly innocuous, for example, is the mnemonic enabling one to recall the Magnum through the Nebuchadnezzar. “My Judy Really Makes Splendid Belching Noises.” As you read on, you will see how that lovely concept works.
For some reason now obscured by time, the titles given to bottles are largely Biblical. There seems to be no rhyme or reason as to why each has the name it does, but the nomenclature has survived, and for the most part is globally used today. There are slight differences as to how some regions refer to the same sizes of sparkling vs. still wine, so when you see two names for the same size bottle on the sidebar, as a rule the first is the Bordeaux (still wine) name, and the second is from the Champagne region [this does not hold true for the “split”]. If there is only one name, the two regions agree.
Bottle size is important for reasons other than just the amount of wine someone wants to keep around. Actually, it influences the speed of aging, with the smaller bottles aging faster than the larger. This does not mean that there is a perfect ratio of aging as a bottle increases in size, but there is some increase in time. In other words, a Magnum will age slower than a bottle, but it does not take exactly twice as long to get to the same point.
Is there an optimum size for a bottle of wine? Most literature reports that taste tests do not in fact distinguish a wine as it relates to its aging time, but many enophiles insist the Magnum is the perfect size because of the ratio of wine exposed, or not exposed, to the air. Note that many, if not most, retail shops and wineries charge more than double the price of one bottle when you buy a Magnum, even though you receive exactly the same amount of wine in the
Magnum as you do in two bottles. The reason for the extra charge is that it is more labor intensive to create the larger format bottle. However, the good news is that the price differential is diminishing as Magnums become more popular.
We enjoy both half bottles and large format bottles for perhaps more pedestrian reasons than aging time and cost. Ordering half bottles at restaurants allows us to partake of a number of different wines for a reasonable sum. As wine consumption rises in the United States, more and more wineries are putting their wines in this size bottle to accommodate the public’s desire to experience many wines. We like the large formats for the simple reason that they are kind of cool to have on your table. Magnums don’t cause much of a stir, but walk into a crowd with a 9 Liter and you become the center of attention.
Bottle Sizes – Download and Print your own Bottle Size Chart Here