Ever wonder why a champagne bottle is shaped the way it is?! We at Tulleeho have just the info for you.
The champagne bottle design was created more on a need basis than for style. The thick glass, the gently sloping shoulders and the deep punt (indentation at the bottom) are necessary to withstand the high pressure inside. Though not seen much in India, champagne bottles come in various sizes and some of these sizes have names with origins that date back centuries.
Split |
187 ml |
quarter bottle |
Demi |
375 ml |
half bottle |
Bottle |
750 ml |
standard bottle |
Magnum |
1.5 L |
two bottles |
Jeroboam |
3.0 L |
four bottles |
Rehoboam |
4.5 L |
six bottles (ceased production in 1980s) |
Methuselah |
6.0 L |
eight bottles |
Salmanazar |
9.0 L |
twelve bottles |
Balthazar |
12 L |
sixteen bottles |
Nebuchadnezzar |
15 L |
twenty bottles |
Sovereign |
26 L |
thirty-four bottles |
Fermentation mostly happens in the standard or magnum bottle. Other bottles named after biblical figures are filled with champagne fermented in the standard or magnum bottles. Some of the unique sizes were made for special occasions or people and hence named after the person.
Jeroboam (4 bottles) 3 liters:
Jeroboam (actually Jeroboam II), was the King of Israel during the year of Rome's founding (753 BC).
Rehoboam (6 bottles) 4.5 liters:
A son of Solomon, Rehoboam (meaning "the clan is enlarged" according to Willard Espy) became king of Judah in 933 BC.
Methuselah (8 bottles) 6 liters:
Methuselah was an antediluvian patriarch described in the Old Testament as having lived 969 years and whose name is synonymous with great age. He may well have evolved from a character of earlier Sumerian legend that lived for 65,000 years.
Salmanazar (12 bottles) 9 liters:
Shalmaneser (alternatively spelled Salmanazar) was an Assyrian monarch who reigned around 1250 BC.
Balthazar (16 bottles) 12 liters:
Balthazar ("King of Treasures") is the traditional name of one of the Three Wise Men, the other two being Melchior ("King of Light") and Gaspar ("The White One").
Nebuchadnezzar (20 bottles) 15 liters:
Nebuchadnezzar II, originally nabu-kudurri-usur meaning "Nabu protects the boundary," became King of the Chaldean Empire in 604 BC.
We asked Bruno Yvon (Regional Marketing Director, Asia Pacific for Moet Hennessy Wine Estates), about his favorite to which he said “My favorite sizes are 75cl and Magnum: excellent ageing potential and very convenient. Jeroboam (3liters) is also very good for storage and/or for a larger crowd to drink. Other formats are more anecdotic and to fit a special occasion (wedding, celebration...). They are not good for long ageing.”
You may or may not get to see these bottles for real but now you at least know the types of bottles so your not dumbstruck if someone around is discussing champagne or you can strike up a conversation to show off your knowledge on the “bubbly”.
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