I know the big bottles have special names but I just can't remember what they are...
No one is exactly sure of the reasons why larger format bottles were given biblical names.
The earliest recorded use of biblical names for big bottles comes from 1725 where winemakers in Bordeaux were using the name Jeroboam for the four-bottle size. It's presumed they selected Jeroboam, the biblical founder of Israel, who ruled from 931-910 BC because he is referred to as "a man of great worth," as were the larger size bottles.
A Champenois poet of the middle ages, Eugene Destuche mentioned several of these names in his poetry. The Champenois adopted the Jeroboam and followed suit with larger format bottles developed in the 1940s, continuing the practice of selecting biblical kings and patriarchs.
Name |
Volume |
# of bottles |
Where it came from |
Pony |
187 ml |
0.25 |
New WOrld |
Picolo/Split |
187 ml |
0.25 |
Champagne, Burgundy, Rhone |
Pony |
375 ml |
0.5 |
Champagne, Bordeaux, Burgundy |
Fillette |
375 ml |
0.5 |
Means "little girl" |
Pot |
500 ml |
0.667 |
Bordeaux |
Imperial Pint |
588 ml |
0.784 |
Champagne, Burgundy, Rhone< |
Bottle |
750 ml |
1 |
Sometimes referred to as a "fifth" |
Magnum |
1.5 litres |
2 |
Champagne, Bordeaux, Burgundy |
Marie-Jeanne |
2.25 litres |
3 |
3 Bordeaux Reference to Marie-Jeanne Ozanne (1734-1786) from Bordeaux |
Double Magnum |
3.0 litres |
4 |
Bordeaux |
Jeroboam |
3.0 litres |
4 |
Champagne, Bordeaux, Burgundy |
Jeroboam |
4.5 litres |
6 |
|
Jeroboam |
5.0 litres |
6.67 |
|
Rehoboam |
4.5 litres |
6 |
Champagne, Burgundy |
Imperial |
6.0 litres |
8 |
Bordeaux, New World |
Methuselah |
6.0 litres |
8 |
Champagne, Burgundy |
Salmanazar or Shalmaneser |
9.0 litres |
12 |
Champagne, Burgundy |
Balthazar |
12.0 litres |
16 |
Champagne, Bordeaux, Burgundy |
Nebuchadnezzar |
15.0 litres |
20 |
Champagne, Bordeaux, Burgundy |
Melchior |
18.0 litres |
24 |
Champagne, Bordeaux, Burgundy |
Sovereign |
25.5 litres |
34 |
Champagne, Bordeaux, Burgundy |
The naming conventions varied somewhat among wine regions,
with the two standards being Champagne and Bordeaux
in France. The new world wines pretty much follow the Bordeaux
naming but throw in their own quirks just to keep us on
our toes.
In case you run into a big bottle, here's a quick field
guide to the sizes:
A useful mnemonic for the big bottle sizes is: My Judy Really Makes Splendid Belching Noises
Piccolo
From Italian, meaning small. Refers to a tiny quarter bottle
holding just 187.5ml of Champagne.
Pony
Pony seems to be unique to new world wines. It's a quarter
bottle size of approximately 187.5 ml of wine but the name's
also sometimes used for a half bottle of 375ml capacity.
Split
The history of the wine bottle section covers the evolution of
the 750ml bottle size and from this comes the 'tenth' designation.
A full size bottle is also referred to as a fifth and this
refers roughly to a fifth of a gallon.
A 'split' comes from the same logic as a tenth, half a regular
bottle where a regular bottle is a fifth as it holds a fifth of a
gallon. Hence the half bottle being a tenth.
Half Bottle
Half bottle is a fairly recent name. The name comes from,
well pretty obviously, half a bottle or 375ml.
* Reproduced with permission from Peter Svans at The Gurdies Winery
