Page 35 - Leisure Living Magazine May 2016

Wine Bottles – Shapes And Colors That Tell A Story
By Donniella Winchell, Executive Director, Ohio Wine Producers Association
Over the centuries, major wine districts in France and Germany have developed unique bottles to help consumers recognize the grapes and wines grown in their regions. Contempo- rary wine producers everywhere use those same colors and shapes for wines made in tradition- al European styles. This means a bit of ‘bottle savvy’ can help a shopper select a ‘perfect’ wine from among the myriad of options offered on a typical retail shelf.
Dark green bottles with high, rounded shoul- ders originated in Bordeaux. Around the world, they were and are used for cabernet sauvignons, merlots and for complex red blends. Clear or ‘flint’ bottles with the high Bordeaux shoulders contain luscious, sweet Sauternes, fine sauvi- gnon blancs and wines of similar styles. Clear glass in many shapes is often used to show off the lovely colors of blush or rose’ wines.
Burgundy, known for both great whites and spectacular reds, established bottles with slop- ing shoulders as its standard shape. White wines were placed in lighter green bottles, red wines into darker green bottles. Expect to find chardonnays [white] and pinot noirs [red] in bottles with Burgundy sloping sides.
Wines in a ‘Germanic’ style are placed in tall, very thin glass, also known as ‘hock’ bottles. The green version originated in the Rhine and Alsace districts. Brown bottles are traditional- ly used in Mosel region. Varietals like riesling, gewurztraminer and stylistically similar hy- brids like vidal blanc, are often found in these graceful bottles.
Champagne producers use especially thick glass to contain the tremendous pressure creat- ed by the second- ary fermentation that produces the tiny, trapped bub- bles in sparkling wines. Some bottles feature a concave bottom,
Wine bottles in and of themselves tell a story about the wine contained within the glass.
called a ‘punt’ or ‘kick.’ This unique character- istic dates back to the time when bottles were all hand blown. The indentation added strength to the bottle’s body, helped to insure that the bottle would stand straight after hand blow- ing and for sparklers, the punt provided some protection against breakage caused by trapped pressure. Modern, mass produced punt bottles are more costly than plain glass so winemakers often use them for their most prized varietals.
Table wines are generally placed in 750ml bottles and contain about 5 glasses of wine. Ice wines, those rich, very sweet dessert wines, on the other hand, are usually presented in ex- tremely tall, elegant and artfully painted bot- tles that contain only 375 ml of wine. Because they command prices double and triple that of regular varietals, little expense is spared when creating ice wine bottles. On a shelf they attract considerable attention; even empty, bottles be- come ‘collectible.’
Knowing a little about the history of bottle shapes and colors helps a contemporary shop- per make a good decision when selecting a wine for any occasion.
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