No one is exactly sure of the reasons why larger format bottles
were given biblical names.
The earliest recorded use of biblical names for big bottles
comes from 1725 where winemakers in Bordeaux were using
the name Jeroboam for the four-bottle size. It's presumed they
selected Jeroboam, the biblical founder of Israel, who ruled
from 931-910 BC because he is referred to as "a man of great
worth," as were the larger size bottles.
A Champenois poet of the middle ages, Eugene Destuche mentioned
several of these names in his poetry. The Champenois
adopted the Jeroboam and followed suit with larger format bottles
developed in the 1940s, continuing the practice of selecting
biblical kings and patriarchs.
Name |
Volume |
# of bottles |
Where it came from |
Pony |
187 ml |
0.25 |
New World |
Picolo/Split |
187 ml |
0.25 |
Champagne, Burgundy, Rhone |
Pony |
375 ml |
0.5 |
Champagne, Bordeaux, Burgundy |
Fillette |
375 ml |
0.5 |
Means "little girl" |
Pot |
500 ml |
0.667 |
Bordeaux |
Imperial Pint |
588 ml |
0.784 |
Champagne, Burgundy, Rhone< |
Bottle |
750 ml |
1 |
Sometimes referred to as a "fifth" |
Magnum |
1.5 litres |
2 |
Champagne, Bordeaux, Burgundy |
Marie-Jeanne |
2.25 litres |
3 |
3 Bordeaux Reference to Marie-Jeanne Ozanne (1734-1786) from Bordeaux |
Double Magnum |
3.0 litres |
4 |
Bordeaux |
Jeroboam
(sparkling wine) |
3.0 litres |
4 |
Champagne, Bordeaux, Burgundy
Actually Jeroboam II, King of Israel during the year of Rome's founding (753 BC) |
Jeroboam
(still wine) |
4.5 litres |
6 |
|
Jeroboam
(USA Only) |
5.0 litres |
6.67 |
|
Rehoboam |
4.5 litres |
6 |
Champagne, Burgundy
A son of Solomon, Rehoboam became king of Judah in 933 BC |
Imperial |
6.0 litres |
8 |
Bordeaux, New World |
Methuselah |
6.0 litres |
8 |
Champagne, Burgundy
Methuselah was a patriarch from the Old Testament described as having lived for 969 years |
Salmanazar or Shalmaneser |
9.0 litres |
12 |
Champagne, Burgundy
Shalmaneser I, alternatively spelt Salmanazar was an Assyrian monarch who reigned around 1250 BC |
Balthazar |
12.0 litres |
16 |
Champagne, Bordeaux, Burgundy
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 |
15.0 litres |
20 |
Champagne, Bordeaux, Burgundy
Nebuchadnezzar, originally nabu-kudurri-usur meaning 'Nabu protect the boundary' became King of the Chaldean Empire in 604 BC. He was actually the second Nebuchadnezzar as a less famous one preceded him by 500 years. |
Melchior |
18.0 litres |
24 |
Champagne, Bordeaux, Burgundy
Melchior (King of Light) is the traditional name of one of the Three Wise Men, the other two being Balthazar (King of Treasures) and Gaspar (The White One) |
Sovereign |
25.5 litres |
34 |
Champagne, Bordeaux, Burgundy
|
The naming conventions varied somewhat among wine regions,
with the two standards being Champagne and Bordeaux
in France. The new world wines pretty much follow the Bordeaux
naming but throw in their own quirks just to keep us on
our toes.
In case you run into a big bottle, here's a quick field
guide to the sizes:
A useful mnemonic for the big bottle sizes is:
My Judy Really Makes Splendid Belching Noises
Piccolo
From Italian, meaning small. Refers to a tiny quarter bottle
holding just 187.5ml of Champagne.
Pony
Pony seems to be unique to new world wines. It's a quarter
bottle size of approximately 187.5 ml of wine but the name's
also sometimes used for a half bottle of 375ml capacity.
Split
The history of the wine bottle section covers the evolution of
the 750ml bottle size and from this comes the 'tenth' designation.
A full size bottle is also referred to as a fifth and this
refers roughly to a fifth of a gallon.
A 'split' comes from the same logic as a tenth, half a regular
bottle where a regular bottle is a fifth as it holds a fifth of a
gallon. Hence the half bottle being a tenth.
Half Bottle
Half bottle is a fairly recent name. The name comes from,
well pretty obviously, half a bottle or 375ml.
* Reproduced with permission from Peter Svans
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