Bottle shapes

Special designs apart, there are certain standard bottle shapes associated most commonly with certain regions or, increasingly, the styles of wine associated with those regions. Ambitiously made Chardonnays the world over, for example, tend to be put into burgundy bottles. Since the geographical provenance of most wines should be clear from the label, understanding bottle shapes is most useful for the clues they provide as to the intended style of the wine inside them. Some rioja producers, for example, put their Garnacha-dominated, richer blends into burgundy bottles, while their Tempranillo wines designed for longer ageing are put into bordeaux bottles.