It's in the Bottle!

Did you ever wonder about the different shapes and colors of wine bottles? Well we have come a long way from the clay pots or amphoras used centuries ago and there is a reason different wines are stored in different bottles.

Although the oldest glass bottle was discovered in 1867 and dates back to 325 A.D. it wasn’t until fairly recently that glass bottles as we know them today became the common vessel used to transfer wine from the barrel to the table. The first bottles were hand-blown, somewhat fragile and mostly used for filling from the barrel for immediate consumption at the table. The creation of the modern elongated bottle came into being in the eighteenth century. In Europe, many wine producing areas developed unique wine bottle shapes which became the traditional bottle for wines of that region. As winemaking spread around the world, new wineries often adopted those traditional European bottle shapes in order to communicate with their consumers. The shape of the wine bottle suggests certain information about the wine inside.

There are four main bottle shapes all containing 750 ml of precious juice! The “Bordeaux Bottle” is the high shouldered bottle used by most wineries for Bordeaux varieties including, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Malbec, Cabernet Franc and Bordeaux blends such as Meritage and Claret. This is also the bottle style you will find Zinfandel, Tempranillo, Grenache and many Italian red varietals such as Sangiovese. White varietals found in this bottle are Sauvignon Blanc and Semillon. The “Burgundy Bottle” has sloping shoulders and is most commonly used for Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Pinot Gris. Wines from the Loire Valley in France are found in this bottle as well. The “Hoch Bottle” is the tall slender bottle used in Germany and the Alsace region in France and is the bottle used for Riesling, Gewürztraminer and Muller -Thurgau. The Champagne Bottle shape is used for sparkling wines and some say is the only bottle that has a compelling scientific justification behind its design. It has thicker glass that is able to withstand the higher pressure that is found with Champagne and sparkling wines.

Within these basic shapes there are other variations with regard to color. The traditional colors used for wine bottles are dark to medium green for reds, light green for dry whites and clear for sweet whites or Roses. Some producers in parts of France have traditionally used amber colored bottles.

And finally the last variable in the design of a wine bottle is the punt, also known as a kick-up. This refers to the dimple at the bottom of a wine bottle. There is no consensus explanation for its purpose and I have read many differing opinions as to what it is actually for. Some think it may have come into use when bottles were hand blown and severing the bottle from the pontil could leave a jagged scar easily able to scratch a table. By indenting the bottom, the scar would not touch the table surface. Depending on who you ask or what you read, the explanation for the design of the punt of a bottle can be attributed to everything from making the bottle more sturdy and less likely to topple over, to being there to accommodate the pourer's thumb. Some will argue it is there to trap potential sediment. All of these make sense to me. The most cynical explanation is the exaggerated punts displace wine meaning taller, heavier bottles making it appear there is more wine in the bottle. Some believe the more pronounced the punt the better quality the wine and premium wines often come in bottles with deeper punts.