While wine is sold in many shapes and sizes, the standard is the Bordeaux bottle which holds 0.75 liters. It is this size by which we determine the amount of wine bottles a Liebherr wine cabinet can hold – because it is so ubiquitous. Bigger bottles -what are they all about?
Large format wine bottles are not very common, which makes them an eye-catcher. With few exceptione, large format bottles have a size that is a multiple of the standard Bordeaux size. These large format bottles all have their own special name, which in most cases is only known by wine enthusiasts. The most common is the Magnum bottle, which contains double the amount of wine of a standard size bottle: 1,5 liters. Things get a little bit more complicated with the Jeroboam, which can be a 3 liter of 4.5 liter bottle depending on the region where the wine hails from.
Large Formar Bottles: Literally Of Biblical Proportions
There are even bigger bottles, especially for Champagnes. Those carry Bibilical names: If someone asks for a Methuselah bottle, they are expecting 6 liters of wine. Salmanzar is for 9 liter bottles, Balthazar is the name for a 12 liter bottle and if you are offered a Nebuchadnezzar, you’ll get 15 liters. Do you want even more? Goliath gives you 27 liters of Champagne and the mighty Midas tops the list with 30 liters. Larger bottles are usually more expensive than buying the same quantity is standard size bottles. Not only are they bona fide collector’s items- their unusual form and sizes make them more expensive both in terms of making them as well as filling them.
Does Wine From Large Format Bottles Taste Different?
Large format bottles are collector’s items. The bigger the bottle, the smaller the proportion between surface of the bottle and content. This, in turn, significantly reduces a wine’s oxidation. When it comes to large format champagne bottles, it’s the dramatic opening that fascinated, and less the quality. The all important in bottle fermentation for sparkling wine only occurs in the original bottle in sizes up to Magnum. For bigger sizes, champagne transferred from standard size or Magnum bottles into the larger format ones. This results in a loss of pressure and, because the champagne is exposed to oxygen, for many in a loss of overall quality.
