Bottle Sizes

Appears in
Oxford Companion to Wine

By Jancis Robinson

Published 2006

  • About

bottle sizes, are standardized in most countries. A bottle containing 75 cl (25 fl oz) is now accepted almost universally as the standard wine (but not spirits, which is more usually 70 cl) bottle, with the magnum being 1.5 l, exactly twice the capacity. The standard bottle is about the same size as the first bottles (see bottles, history), whose size may have been determined by the size of container conveniently blown by a (glassblower’s) lungful of air. The bottle has in its time been variously described as a suitable ration of wine for one person at a sitting, one person per day, and two people at a sitting (see consumption).