Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Food & Drink

A Quick Guide to Wine Bottle Sizes, Shapes, and Names

Mark Stock
By
Image used with permission by copyright holder

There are more than just a few kinds of wine bottles out there. Sometimes, it’s just a matter of shape and the same amount of liquid. Other times, it’s a broad spectrum of volume sizes, from the petite and personal split to the ridiculously large Nebuchadnezzar, which holds roughly twenty regular bottles.

Below, check out the names for the various bottle sizes as well as an explanation for why some look the way they do.

Recommended Videos

Related Guides

Split

The split is the smallest of the bunch, checking in at 187.5 ml or about a single serving of wine. The small bottles are not only adorable, but great for experiencing a glass of something really nice without completely cashing out. Also called a Piccolo, this format tends to be used for sparkling wines.

Related

Demi

The demi is a traditional bottle of wine cut in half. There’s a pretty good selection of wines within the format, ranging from whites to rosés to reds. Most wine-centric restaurants have a healthy list of demis to pull from. And it’s a great way to avoid the hangover that can shadow larger vessels.

Jennie

A popular option for sweet wines like Tokaji from Hungary, the Jennie holds around three glasses of wine. Simply put, it’s a fun size to carry around and is still small enough that you don’t usually have to worry about properly preserving any leftovers.

750

Image used with permission by copyright holder

The standard-bearer in wine, checking in at 750 ml or a little more than 25 ounces. It is far and away the most popular format and has its own diverse range of shapes for specific wines within the category.

Liter

More and more value wines, especially from abroad, are taking on this format, which contains about seven glasses of wine. The liter mark is about where the formats switch from personal enjoyment and dinner wines with your significant other to parties and thirstier social gatherings.

Magnum

The magnum is fun to pour and still of a neck and cork size that you don’t need special equipment to open it. It holds 1.5 liters and has been a preferred format for laying wines down for many years. With a greater wine-to-air ratio, the magnum is believed to offer a better climate within the bottle for a wine to age.

Double Magnum

Also referred to as a Jeroboam (the first of the Biblical King-named wine bottle sizes), the double magnum holds three liters. The cork is bigger and while you can remove it with a good double-hinged wine key, a butler’s friend will make things all the easier. These bottles are a blast at dinner parties, but do use both arms when pouring.

Rehoboam

A 4.5 Liter bottle primarily used for bubbly.

Methuselah

Image used with permission by copyright holder

This one holds 6 liters and likely originated in Bordeaux, also going by the name Imperial.

Salmanazar

At 9 liters in volume, this bottle is home to an entire case of wine.

Balthazar

More than sounding like a Pokémon name, Balthazar also refers to a massive bottle that holds well over three gallons.

Nebuchadnezzar

A Kanye opera as well as a 15-liter wine bottle.

Melchior

A full two cases of wine fit in this towering piece of glass.

Solomon

The Solomon contains a whopping 18 liters of fermented juice.

Sovereign

Here comes a hangover: The Sovereign holds 26 liters.

Goliath

Besting the Sovereign by a single liter, Goliath is the second largest format out there.

Midas

There are many biblical-named formats that fall between the double magnum and the Midas, but you’re unlikely to run across any (outside of a decorative one or two at a restaurant). The Midas is the largest on the planet, with room for 40 bottles (more than three cases). It’s absurd that it exists.

Within the 750 ml genre, there are a number of varying styles. Here are the most popular:

Bordeaux

Probably the most common out there, with high-set shoulders and a shape that appeals to not just Bordeaux, but domestic reds and blends abound. When you close your eyes and imagine a bottle of wine, a silhouette of this probably appears.

Burgundy

Arguably the sexiest bottle shape, the Burgundy bottle touts pretty contours and is beloved by Pinot Noir and Chardonnay producers. But it’s a popular shape for many more varieties, especially whites and lighter reds.

Chianti

Chianti
Image used with permission by copyright holder

The bottle with the most frills, the traditional chianti vessel wears a raffia basket at the bottom. It looks cool and has become synonymous with the Italian red, but the glass of a typical chianti bottle has a rounded base, giving it very little balance on your dinner table.

Alsace

A tall glass of water, the Alsace bottle is relatively slim and towering. Also called a Mosel bottle, it’s popular for the complex European white varieties it’s named after, along with Riesling and a few others. It’s quite elegant to pour.

Champagne

Burly to deal with the pressure of carbonation, the Champagne bottle is large and in charge. In addition to added thickness, it also tends to wear a larger capsule, a different shaped cork, and a cage to keep everything in check.

Port

The port bottle is mostly a regular Bordeaux bottle accept that it usually has a little nob in the neck to collect sediment.

Editors' Recommendations

Topics
Mark Stock
Mark Stock
Contributor
Mark Stock is a writer from Portland, Oregon. He fell into wine during the Recession and has been fixated on the stuff since…
A California wine company illegally aged wine in the ocean, and now 2,000 bottles have been destroyed
A California wine company was forced to destroy 2,000 bottles of its underwater aged wine
Ocean Fathoms bottles

Sometimes, when you come up with an idea that feels unique, smart, and exciting, you scratch your head and wonder why nobody else thought of it before. While sometimes this is because you actually came up with something nobody else has ever thought of, the other option is that others have thought of it but realized that it was a terrible idea and moved on to something else. A recent story involving California wine aged underwater firmly fits into the latter category. Yes, you read that right: wine aged underwater. Not in a cave, a barrelhouse, or even someone’s dank, dark basement, but underwater. While this might seem like an ingenious idea for wine aging, it’s really not. Especially if you don’t get approval before doing so.
The story behind Ocean Fathoms
It all started when a California-based wine company called Ocean Fathoms decided that the waters of the Santa Barbara Channel were a good place to age its wine. Back in 2017, Ocean Fathoms submerged its wine in specially designed crates. The wine spent a whole twelve months aging on the bottom of the channel. The bottled wine was sold for a staggering $500 per bottle when it was done maturing. That seems all well and good, right? Actually, according to multiple government organizations, it most certainly wasn’t.

Apparently, the folks at Ocean Fathom, believing that they came up with a million-dollar idea, didn’t think of a few basic things in the process. First, they failed to get the proper permits or even check with the California Coastal Commission or any of the other organizations trusted with protecting the California coast. On top of that, they didn’t even get a business license before they sold the wine.

Read more
The 7 best wines to drink this Easter: Elevate your holiday meal
Spring spells the Easter holiday, feasts, and some great wines, like these spectacular seven options.
Chenin Blanc Wine

Easter season is here, and whether you're all in and already trying on the bunny costume or just like a good feast, some good wine is in order. At the dinner table, you'll likely enjoy some ham, lamb, pot roast, or spring vegetables. These staple dishes can be elevated to new heights with the right wine selections.

Perhaps you're hosting Easter dinner and want to impress some friends with a new wine discovery. Perhaps you're just looking for a romantic meal with your significant other and want to wow them with an exceptional pairing. Whatever your motives this Easter, we've got some fantastic wines for you — bottles that accompany the fare but are also special in their own right.

Read more
Wine pros reveal the bottles that changed their lives
Most wine pros can think of a single bottle that made them join the industry. Here are a few of those tales.
Peter Wassam enjoying some wine.

For many in the wine industry, there was a defining moment that involved a very particular bottle. Over the course of a few sips, that wine changed the course of their lives, causing them to change career paths or give up prior dreams for a new, wine-soaked one. It's a tale as old as time in the wine industry, but the anecdotes are always entertaining. There aren't many liquids out there that can cause you to drop a successful role as a doctor or historian to become a sommelier, but that's the power of wine. Here are just some of the wine bottles that changed the lies of these professionals.

We asked some of our favorite wine professionals this question: What's the one bottle that changed your life? Here are their answers.
Josh Peeples
Peeples is the proprietor of a handful of labels, including Napa-based Elyse Winery and Institution Winery. “The experience that changed everything for me was when I visited Duckhorn Winery in 1995," he says. "I was only 18 years old and still living in my hometown of Hilton Head Island, South Carolina. The 1992 Duckhorn Three Palms Merlot poured for me by the owner, Dan Duckhorn, connected all of the dots: Great wine, great people, and allure of the business. Little did I know I’d move to San Francisco just three years later.”
Matt Stamp
A longtime sommelier, Stamp is also behind Compline Restaurant. He, like so many in the trade, was blown away by burgundy. “Hands down, the 2000 fixin from Domaine Mongeard Mugneret," he says. "I was just getting started in wine and was sort of nodding along as people talked about tar and earth and grass and other strange aromas beyond simple fruit. This bottle of red burgundy made me see it clearly: A whole interlocked universe of scent in a glass of wine. It made me understand how impactful smell is in our own memories and experiences. It kickstarted my desire to learn.”
Adrian Manspeaker
The winemaker and owner of Joseph Jewell Wines was moved by a wine born the same year as him. “It was my 25th birthday, and my wife and I went to dinner at Josh Ash & Co in Santa Rosa," he says. "While reviewing the wine list, the 1978 IronHorse Cabernet caught my eye. 1978 is the year I was born and, at $120 a bottle, I thought it was a really good deal considering the age of the wine. After the bottle arrived at our table, I read the back label to find that the grapes were harvested the third week of October that year — the exact week I was born. Yes, the wine was amazing, but it was all of the elements of the story that stand out to me. Wine goes beyond what’s in the glass to capture a moment in time.”
Megan Skupny

Read more