Wine Bottle Sizes

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.

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