Wine packaging

By Mar Sánchez

Many containers, with varying degrees of success and consumer acceptance, are used to hold wine. The truth is that technology has advanced considerably since the animal skins and clay amphorae used in ancient times, and ongoing research continues to find the perfect container. Ensure optimal preservation and maintain the qualities of a wine for as long as possible, while also facilitating storage.to and transport of the product.

With this intention, packaging such as tetra brik, bag in box, aluminum cans, plastic containers (PET) or the relatively well-known tetra glax, a vitreous coating whose opacity protects the aging of wine and whose flexibility absorbs vibrations, burst onto the market.

The wine industry It tries to adapt to market evolution by offering packaging and formats that may be attractive.Wine bottles are designed to appeal to a specific audience, but not all packaging is suitable for all types of wine. The most widely used and accepted option worldwide for quality wines remains the glass bottle, so let's focus on that.

There are many types of bottles depending on their color, size, or shape, and it's very important to choose the most suitable one for each wine. For wines intended for aging, the glass used is very dark, almost opaque, while for young whites and rosés, clear or colorless glass can be used.

Some bottles are named after their place of origin, while others are named after the wine they contain. Among the most common are:

Bordeaux – Originating in the Bordeaux region and widely used throughout the world. It is cylindrical in shape with high shoulders.
Burgundy or Burgundy – Mandatory use in its region of origin (Burgundy) for all Pinot Noir reds and Chardonnay whites. It is a wider bottle with less pronounced shoulders.
Rhine or Alsatian – It is a tall, slender bottle, lacking shoulders. It is usually used for bottling white wines and typically has brown hues in the Rhine region and green hues in Alsace.
Chianti – Classic Italian bottle in the shape of a demijohn with the bottom wrapped in straw that has been traditionally used to bottle common wines.
Port – A bottle with firm shoulders and a slightly flared neck, made of thick glass. It is used exclusively for wines from this Portuguese region.
Jerezana – It is the typical bottle of Andalusian wines, cylindrical in shape with high shoulders, very dark in color and with a distinctive two-stage neck.
Champagne – Originating from the French region of the same name. Generally dark green in color, with low shoulders and very thick walls. Its concave base and wide neck resist the pressure of the carbon dioxide.

Regarding dimensions, the most commonly used bottle is 75 cl., but it is important to note that the evolution of the wine is slower as the size of the bottle increases, therefore this directly influences the preservation and aging of the wine.

The half-liter bottle is mainly used for packaging sweet wines, and there are other formats whose curiosity lies not only in the volume but also in the name:

Benjamin: 18 cl.
Three eighths: 37 centiliters.
Magnum: 1.5 liters. (equivalent to 2 bottles of 75 cl)
Jeroboam: 3 liters. (equivalent to 4 bottles of 75 cl)
Imperial: 4 liters.
Rehoboam: 4.5 liters. (equivalent to 6 bottles of 75 cl)
Methuselah: 6 liters. (equivalent to 8 bottles of 75 cl)
Salmanazar: 9 liters. (equivalent to 12 bottles of 75 cl)
Baltazar: 12 liters. (equivalent to 16 bottles of 75 cl)
Nabuchodonosor: 15 liters. (equivalent to 20 bottles of 75 cl)
Solomon: 18 liters. (equivalent to 24 bottles of 75 cl)
Primat: 27 liters. (equivalent to 36 bottles of 75 cl)
Melchizedek: 30 liters. (equivalent to 40 bottles of 75 cl)

The biggest bottle The world record for the largest bottle of wine belonged to the Austrian winery Kracher and contained 490 liters, the equivalent of 640 bottles, until a group of Chinese producers claimed the new Guinness World Record with a bottle containing 1,850 liters of red wine, enough for more than 260,000 glasses. Either you have a lot of friends to share it with, or the hangover will be terrible…

Wine packaging

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