A Measure Of Things – Part Nine
It was not until the development of the coal-burning furnace in the 16th century which produced the temperatures necessary to manufacture thick glass and the discovery of cork as an efficient sealant, that the bottle came into its own as a means of transporting wine. Although the bottle has been challenged by the box in recent years, it stands triumphant as a means of selling and serving wine. Wine bottles come in a bewildering array of shapes and understanding the relativity of sizes reacquaints us with some biblical characters along the way.
Surprisingly, it was as recent as 1979 that the United States adopted 750 millilitres as the standard size for a wine bottle, a measure quickly adopted by the European Union to facilitate trade. Prior to that the sleek, long bottles with which we are familiar varied in size from anywhere between 700 and 800 millilitres. What determined the size of the bottle was the capacity of the glassblower’s lung!
Typically, the smallest size of bottle that wine comes in is the piccolo which is a quarter of a standard bottle of wine. It is also known as a pony, snipe or split. The half bottle, unsurprisingly, holds 375 millilitres or half a standard bottle of wine. Moving up the scale we have the magnum which is the equivalent of 1.5 litres or two standard bottles and the double magnum which holds twice the volume. A box of wine is usually the equivalent of a double magnum.
The first biblical character we come across is Jereboam who was the first king of the northern Kingdom of Isreal after the revolt of the ten northern Israelite tribes against Rehoboam. Confusingly, a jereboam when used in respect of champagne is 3 litres or four standard bottles but in the context of still wine equates to six standard bottles. The term for a volume equal to six standard bottles of champagne is Rehoboam, after the biblical king who, following the rebellion, was left with what was known as the Kingdom of Judah.
A methuselah, named after the oldest man in the Bible, is the equivalent to eight standard bottles of champagne. In the world of still wines, this measure is known as the Imperial. As we move up in size, the terminology used in respect of champagne and wine harmonises so a salmanazar, who was an Assyrian king, is the equivalent of twelve standard bottles or nine litres. A balthazar, one of the three wise men, is the name given to a bottle which holds 12 litres or the equivalent of sixteen standard bottles while a Nebuchadnezzar, named after the famous Babylonian king, is 15 litres.
The granddaddy of all bottles in terms of champagne is the Melchizedek or Midas which holds thirty gallons of the sparkling wine. You would probably need to share Midas’ fabled touch in order to afford such a bottle.
Most wine drinkers stick to standard bottles but perhaps they should try a magnum. After all, as one rather sexist former colleague of mine once told me, wine bottles are like breasts – one is not enough and three are too many. Cheers!
Filed under: Culture, History, Science Tagged: glassblower's lung, what is a balthazar, what is a jereboam, what is a magnum, what is a methusulah, what is a midas, what is a nebuchadnezzar, what is a salmanazar, when was the volume of a wine bottle standardised, wine bottle sizes
