Why in the world we use 75 cl bottle?

 it’s an article from Vinoway – vinoway.com

There are many questions about the bottle of wine size, but the most common is: Why in the world we use 75 cl bottle measure?

Everything began in 1975 when the European Directive on packaging (Dir. 75/106) decreed that wine could be sold only in containers by 25cl / 37.5cl / 50cl / 75cl, making the 75 cl bottle the most comfortable format both for the manufacturing company and for the final consumer.

There are other theories about the use of the 0,750 lt bottle format.

It is believed that in 1700, when the wine began to be stored in bottles, the lung capacity of a glassblower could create bottle from 60cl to 75cl at once.

Others think it is linked to the 757 ml unit of measure that represent 1/5 gallon, while gallon was the measure unite widely used in Anglo-Saxon countries, in which the gallon has been for so long the measure unit to size wines and spirits.

Finally because 75 cl correspond to 6 glasses of wine of 125 ml, although today tasting glasses of much larger size are often used.

In the market, today, we could find bottles that despite the same size (75cl) got different characteristics such as the shape, the consistency of glass, the color to protect the wine from light and size to preserve the diversity of characteristics and typicality.

The 75 cl bottles for wine are also the most widespread used due their facilities to be hold, and because they are easy to be handled and the could adapt better to the delivery process.

The European Directive on packaging, today, admits other bottle sizes, here you can read the Name and the size:

Half: 0,375 L.

Liter: 1 L.

Magnum: 1,5 L equivalent of 2 bottles of 75 cl.

Jéroboam: 3 L equivalent of 4 bottles of 75 cl.

Réhoboam: 4,5 L equivalent of 6 bottles of 75 cl.

Mathusalem: 6 L equivalent of 8 bottles of 75 cl.

Salmanazar: 9 L equivalent of 12 bottles of 75 cl.

Balthazar: 12 L equivalent of 16 bottles of 75 cl.

Nabuchodonosor: 15 L equivalent of 20 bottles of 75 cl.

Melchior: 18 L equivalent of 24 bottles of 75 cl.

Primat: 27 L equivalent of 36 bottiglie bottles of 75 cl.

Melchizedec: 30 L equivalent of 40 bottles of 75 cl.