Thursday Wine Fun Facts – Wine Bottle Sizes!

The Thursday fun facts series has been a little lacking, I apologize but today’s is a good one. This post was actually from my personal blog Anything Wine about two years ago and is still the leading (most read) post. Below I have listed all of the actual allowable bottle sizes for wine. Can you believe there are so many? I think I knew up to Methuselah, but that was as high as I thought the list went, and as you can see I was wrong. The list technically refers to the allowable bottle sizes for wine in France and more specifically Champagne and Burgundy but is accepted worldwide. The names themselves, once you get past Magnum, are from the names of Biblical Kings. Magnums and Double Magnum’s make great gifts for wine enthusiasts and are always impressive when you show up to a party with one. Larger format bottles also age wine slower. A larger wine bottle has less oxygen relative to the volume of wine, which means that the wine oxidizes more slowly. Slower oxidation often translates into better maturation of a higher quality wine.

Split = Quarter Bottle

Half = Half Bottle

Bottle = well umm, a Bottle

Magnum = Two Bottles

Jeroboam or Double Magnum = Four Bottles

Methuselah = Eight Bottles

Salmanazar = Twelve Bottles

Balthtazar = Sixteen Bottles

Nabuchadnezzar = Twenty Bottles

Soverign = Thirty-Four Bottles, I mean come on

Cheers!

The many hats of a wine retailer

As a wine retailer we face many questions during our day, most of which have to do with wine, although some do not, so we wear many hats.

Doctor: ” I’ve read in the newspaper that XYZ, will help my ABC, do you have a wine that has that chemical in it?”

Psychic: “I had this wine one time, it has a white label and was a red, do you have that one?”

Sommelier: “I am having a 5 course dinner, can you help me pick out wines for each course?” Incidentally this is one of the most fun things I get to do! 🙂

Chef: knowing how dishes are prepared goes a long way into our ability to select wines that will pair well with a meal.

Wine Expert: “Was 2006 or 2007 a better vintage in Chianti?”(’07 but both were fantastic)

Personal Shopper: Knowing and remembering our customers palates and preferences is what we excel at. So when a customer comes in and says “just pick out a case for me today, 6 red, 6 white” we know we’ll fill it with wine you’ll love.

Friend: Sometimes, people just want or need to talk, about wine or otherwise. We’re always here for that.

You never know what the day will hold and which hat you’ll wear, which is why the job is so fun!

Cheers!

 

Thursday Fun Wine Facts

I thought it would be fun to post funny wine quotes or wine facts on Thursday’s, so here is the first installment.

 

Fun Facts about Champagne

 

• You are more likely to killed by a Champagne cork than by a poisonous spider
• A raisin dropped into a glass of Champagne will repeatedly bounce up and between the top and bottom of the glass
• Marilyn Monroe is said to have taken a bath in 350 bottles worth of Champagne
• The pressure in a bottle of Champagne is 90 psi, about three times that in an auto tire
• The hobby of collecting champagne bottle tops is called plaqueusephilia

 

source: “Vintage Humor for Wine Lovers”