Big Wine Bottle History (PDF) - Living the dream, what it is really like ...

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Bottle Shapes
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Bottle Shape Name and History
Fortified wine bottles
Traditionally these bottles are dark in colour due
to peat smoke from the stoves. A bulbous neck
and sharp accentuated shoulders are typical to
capture as much sediment as possible. These
bottles will usually have a cork stopper rather
than traditional cork.
Champagne
This is a bottle design that was born out of
necessity. It's made from very thick glass and
has gentle sloping shoulders and a long neck.
This bottle also has a large punt, or indentation,
in the bottom of the bottle. Champagne bottles
need to withstand the high pressures exerted by
the carbonation development after bottling.
Pressures can exceed 90 psi. The punt is needed
to help reduce the pressure on the bottom of
the bottle. The punt in the bottle has been there
since glass was first blown. A pontil, or wooden
stick, was used to hold the bottom of the bottle
while the glass blower spun and blew at the
neck end. The stick dented the bottom of the
still molten glass. Todays moulded glass bottles
don't need the punt, but tradition says that it
shall be there. It's not a 100% rule but most
fine wine bottles will have the punt. Over time
the pale green colour of the glass was made
darker as soon as someone figured out it was
good for preserving the precious content from
light, its relentless enemy. Around the neck are
the protruding rings to anchor down the wire
cages to stop the cork popping out. Incidentally,
the wire used to hold the cork down is called a
muselet. As soon as Dom Perignon started his
experiments with bubbles, it was pretty obvious
that more than just a cork was needed to keep
the bubbles in the bottle. Various combinations
of wires and strings and twisted ties were tried
till the muselet as we know it today was
invented by Adolphe Jacqueson in 1844.
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