Site
Directory
Wine Selections
Deux Amis
Dry Creek
La
Gondola
California
Milla Winery
California
Pendleton
Alexander
Valley
Amador County
Raymond
Burr
Dry Creek
Terra
Bella
California
About MDM
Consortium
Consulting Services
National Sales
Strategic Marketing
Why Choose MDM?
The
MDM Model
Marketing
Small
Brands
Legal Bottle Sizes
for Wine in
The United Sates
In the United States, other legal bottle sizes include 50 ml, 100 ml, 187 ml, 375 ml, 1
liter, 1.5 liter and 3 liter. Wine may also be bottled in sizes larger than 3 liters if the capacity is in even liter sizes-4 liters, 5 liters, 6 liters, etc.
Magnum
A simple name, this is the Latin term for "large". It's 1.5 liters of wine.
Marie-Jean
Named after a wine enthusiast from the 1700s. This is 2.25 liters of wine.
|
Wine Bottle Sizes
As well as the traditional (in many cases, legally required) 750ml bottle (the standard size
to be found on supermarket and wine merchants shelves), and the useful half-bottle (containing 375ml of wine), there are a number of legally permitted 'large
format' bottles. Many of these are named after biblical kings The same name may be used to refer to different size bottles in different regions of France.
Burgundy & Champagne
Bottle Sizes |
Bordeaux Wine
Bottle Sizes |
Approved Sizes in U.S. |
Size |
Bottle
Equivalents |
| Piccolo |
Piccolo |
Yes |
.187 ML |
1/4 |
|
Demi |
Demi |
Yes |
375 ML |
1/2 |
| 50cl Bottle |
50cl Bottle |
No* |
500ML |
2/3 |
| Standard |
Standard |
Yes |
750ML |
1 |
| Magnum |
Magnum |
Yes |
1.5L |
2 |
| - |
Marie-Jeanne |
No |
2.25L |
3 |
| Jéroboam |
Double magnum |
Yes |
3.0L |
4 |
| Rehoboam |
Jéroboam |
|
4.5L |
6 |
| Methusaleh |
Impériale |
Yes |
6.0L |
8 |
| Salmanazar |
- |
no |
9.0L |
12 |
| Balthazar |
- |
Yes |
12.0L |
16 |
| Nebuchadnezzar |
- |
no |
15.0L |
20 |
| Melchior |
Melchior |
Yes |
18.0L |
24 |
| Solomon |
Solomon |
Yes |
20.0L |
28 |
| Sovereign |
Sovereign |
No |
25.0L |
33 1/3 |
| Primat |
Primat |
No |
27.0L |
36 |
| Melchizedek |
Melchizedek |
Yes |
30.0L |
40 |
*Approved for domestic wines but not imported wines, so you may see Ports in this size.
Other regions of France, Europe, and the New World also bottle some wine in large formats, particularly
magnums. For larger bottlings, most tend to follow the Burgundy terminology, and consequently some Jéroboams (four bottles) may be found. The Bordeaux
terminology seems quite restricted to that region alone. Large format bottles are popular with Bordeaux collectors, particularly the eight-bottle Impériale.
This is because the small amount of air in the bottle (between the cork and the wine) and a large amount of wine results in a small air:wine ratio, and this
would seem to favour slow development of the wine when compared with smaller formats. The same cannot be said of large format bottles of Champagne, as these are
really only for show, and in general, other than the commonly encountered magnums, they are filled using wine poured from single 750ml bottles prior to sale.
There are a few other bottle sizes permitted, although none have individual names, unlike the formats above.
The only other commonly encountered size is the 500ml bottle, used for some Ports designed for drinking young, and Tokay, the famous sweet wine of Hungary. |
