Name Those
Big Bottles!
And Amaze Your Friends
| Everyone
knows that big bottles have special names, but most people
can only name one or two… “Umm… magnums… jeroboams…”
So here is
the low-down on the names of all bottle sizes. See if you
can memorise them and amaze your friends!
1.
The Standard Bottle
The wine
bottle that we know today is about 300 years old. When
bottles with corks in the neck began to appear it meant that
winemakers could produce wines that would keep for a number
of years and get better with age. The bottle was originally
known as a “fifth” – a fifth of a gallon. It was
then rounded out to 750ml. |
 |
Some sources
say the size became standard because it was the amount suitable
for a man to have with his dinner (!!). Other sources say that
this size bottle was the largest that glass blowers could blow
with one breath.
2.
Big Bottles Have Biblical Names
All the big
bottle formats have biblical names, but no one seems sure why
this is. The first record of these biblical names being used is
in 1725 where French winemakers referred to wine being bottled
in “Jeroboams.” A little biblical research shows that
Jeroboam was the founder of Israel and ruled between 931 and 910
BC.
3.
Champagne Makers Started the Trend
The exact
origin of giant wine bottles is not known. It appears that one
of the first recorded large bottles was made for a champagne
exhibition in Paris in 1900. A French publicist is said to have
thought up the idea to promote the consumption of French
champagne.
Champagne
makers used the Jeroboam and in the 1940’s, started introducing
larger bottles to their ranges. They continued the tradition of
using biblical names. Bordeaux winemakers also started using
larger bottles, but used a different naming convention.
4. The List of Bottle Names
Here is the
list of the names of each different sized bottle.
Print this page off
and memorise the names as your new party trick!
|
Capacity (liters) |
Bottle Equivalents |
Bordeaux Name |
Champagne Name |
|
.75 |
1 |
Bottle |
Bottle |
|
1.5 |
2 |
Magnum |
Magnum |
|
2.25 |
3 |
Marie-Jean |
-- |
|
3 |
4 |
Double Magnum |
Jeroboam |
|
4.5 |
6 |
Jeroboam |
Rehoboam |
|
6 |
8 |
Imperial |
Methuselah |
|
9 |
12 |
-- |
Salmanazar |
|
12 |
16 |
-- |
Balthazar |
|
15 |
20 |
-- |
Nebuchadnezzar |
|
18 |
24 |
Melchior |
Melchior/Solomon |
|
27 |
36 |
-- |
Primat |
5.
What the Bottle Names Mean
A little
biblical research has revealed the people behind the bottle
names:
Magnum:
A red-Ferrari driving TV detective
Jeroboam:
Founder and first king of Israel, ruled between 931
and 910 BC.
Rehaboam:
The son of Solomon and King of Judah, 922-908 BC
Methuselah:
A
patriarch who lived before Noah who lived 969 years
Salmanazar:
King of Assyria, 859-824 BC
Balthazar:
Regent of Babylon, King of Treasures. One of the Three Wise
Men.
Nebuchdadnezzar:
King of Babylon, ruled from 604 to 561 BC. Laid siege to
Jerusalem in 598 and 588.
Melchior:
King of Light. Another of the three wise men.
Solomon:
Son of David and
third King of Israel. Built Solomon’s Temple.
6.
More on the Doings of the Great Kings of Israel
Jeroboam was
crowned king of the northern tribes in Israel. According to the
Bible (1 Kings 11:26) these tribes, over whom Solomon reigned,
had been promised to Jeroboam. Because of this, King Salomon
wanted Jeroboam dead and Jeroboam fled to Egypt instead.
After
Solomon's death, Rehaboam, Solomon's son and successor, refused
to accept the constitutional conditions that were to be upheld
during his reign. Rehaboam became king of Judah (the southern
realm) in 933 BC. Jeroboam's subsequent idolatry was
unacceptable to the faithful and some fled to Rehaboeam's
southern realm.
Therefore,
Jeroboam was recalled to Israel by the northern tribes. There
was then a war between Jeroboam and Rehaboam. The northern
tribes of Israel severed all ties with the house of David and
crowned Jeroboam as their king.
Salmanazar 1
to whom reference is made in 2 Kings 17:3. He was an Assyrian
king who ruled around 1250 BC. This king also helped to extend
the Assyrian borders to contain the mighty neighbours, amongst
whom the Babylonians and the Hittites.
From 553-539
BC, Balthazar was co-ruler with his father, Nabonydus, over the
Babylonian Empire. Balthazar teased the God of Israel at a state
banquet by using some of the gold and silver chalices from the
temple of Jerusalem for drinking wine. Not only that, he did so
in the company of his chief officials, women and concubines.
This
reference to a King and wine in the bible may be the source of
the convention of naming big bottles after Kings of Israel.
Nebuchadnezzar II was the most important king of the
Neo-Babylonian Empire. He ruled from 605 to 562 BC. During his
reign, Babylon became the dominant military power in the Middle
East. According to the Bible, this king of Babel completely
rebuilt the city of Babylon. Nebuchadnezzar is also known as the
builder of the Hanging Gardens of Babylon - one of the Seven
Wonders of the Ancient World.
7. And the Biggest Bottle in the World Is…
According to
the website giantbottles.com a 1,5 metre tall sherry
bottle was made in Staffordshire, England, in 1958. This bottle
contained more than six and a half Nebuchadnezzar is and was
called an Adelaide. The wine, without the bottle, weighed 220
pounds!
8. A Mnemonic To Remember Them All
Here is a
winemaking school mnemonic that will help you remember all the
wine bottle sizes in order. It is not a very tasteful mnemonic,
but in the interests of completeness, here it is:
“My Judy Really
Makes Splendid Belching Noises.”
There. I
told you.
Ben Killerby |
