Sizes
The chart below expresses the sizes of various wine bottles in multiples relating to a standard bottle of wine, which is 0.75 litres (0.20 U.S. gal; 0.16 imp gal). Many common sizes are named for Biblical kings and other historical figures.
Because of the size of the bottles, most champagne houses are unable to carry out secondary fermentation in bottles larger than magnum size. The wine is then decanted into the larger bottles. This inevitably causes loss of pressure and more oxidation, hence the quality of larger bottles are relatively inferior.
| Volume (litres) | Ratio | Name | Notes | Champagne | Bordeaux | Burgundy |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0.1875 | 0.25 | Piccolo | "Small" in Italian. Also known as a quarter bottle, pony, snipe or split. | Yes | ||
| 0.25 | 0.33 | Chopine | Traditional French unit of volume | Yes | ||
| 0.375 | 0.5 | Demi | "Half" in French. Also known as a half bottle. | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| 0.378 | 0.505 | Tenth | One tenth of a U.S. gallon* | |||
| 0.5 | 0.67 | Jennie |
Also known as a 50 cl bottle. Used for Tokaj, Sauternes, Jerez, as well as several other types of sweet wines. | |||
| 0.620 | 0.83 | Clavelin | Primarily used for vin jaune. | |||
| 0.750 | 1 | Standard | Yes | Yes | Yes | |
| 0.757 | 1.01 | Fifth | One-fifth of a U.S. gallon* | |||
| 1.0 | 1.33 | Litre | Used for cheaper-priced wines. | |||
| 1.5 | 2 | Magnum | Yes | Yes | Yes | |
| 2.25 | 3 | Marie Jeanne | Also known as a Tregnum or Tappit Hen in the port wine trade. | Yes | ||
| 3.0 | 4 | Jeroboam (a.k.a. Double Magnum) | Biblical, First king of Northern Kingdom. "Jeroboam" has different meanings (that is, indicates different sizes) for different regions in France. | Yes | Yes | |
| 4.5 | 6 | Yes | ||||
| 4.5 | 6 | Rehoboam | Biblical, First king of separate Judea | Yes | Yes | |
| 6.0 | 8 | Imperial | Yes | |||
| 6.0 | 8 | Methuselah | Biblical, Oldest Man | Yes | Yes | |
| 9.0 | 12 | Mordechai | Biblical, Cousin of Esther Queen of Persia | Yes | Yes | |
| 9.0 | 12 | Salmanazar | Biblical, Assyrian King | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| 12.0 | 16 | Balthazar | Early Christian folklore, one of the Wise Men | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| 15.0 | 20 | Nebuchadnezzar | Biblical, King of Babylon | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| 18.0 | 24 | Melchior | Early Christian folklore, one of the Wise Men | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| 20.0 | 26.66 | Solomon | Biblical, King of Israel, Son of David | Yes | ||
| 25.0 | 33.33 | Sovereign | Yes | |||
| 27.0 | 36 | Primat or Goliath | Yes | |||
| 30.0 | 40 | Melchizedek | Biblical, King of Salem | Yes |
* For many years, the U.S. standard (non-metric) wine and liquor bottle was the "fifth", meaning one-fifth of a U.S. gallon, or 25.6 U.S. fluid ounces (757 ml; 26.6 imp fl oz). Some beverages also came in tenth-gallon, half-gallon and one-gallon sizes. In 1979, the U.S. adopted the metric system for wine bottles, with the basic bottle becoming 750 ml, as in Europe.
Read more about this topic: Wine Bottle