The Inside Story from Italian Wine Merchants

Big Bottles

Posted on | July 16, 2010 | Written by Kerry-Jo Rizzo | No Comments

I’ve always been fascinated by those behemoth wine bottles, the Magnum (1.5 L) or the Jeroboam (3 L). Recently, I learned that there are other large format bottles in existence, and each ever-more enormous bottle takes the name of kings and leaders from the Hebrew Bible.  The reason for this nomenclature is unknown, but it’s an exciting bit of information for wine geeks and history aficionados alike.  Here’s a brief run-down of the most popular large format bottles, their sizes and their names:

Magnum (1.5 L) comes from the Latin “magnum” or “magnus” in neutral form, meaning “great.” It is definitely always great to have a Magnum of wine around for opening!

Jeroboam (3L) was appointed king of the northern Israelite Kingdom of Israel after ten Israelite tribes revolted against their former king Rehoboam for raising taxes.  (Isn’t that always the reason for revolts?)

Rehoboam (4.5 L), named above, the son of Solomon and the king whose people revolted when he raised their taxes.  His successor, Jeroboam, founded a separate kingdom known as Israel, and Rehoboam continued as ruler of a realm known as Judah.  Rehoboam and Jeroboam’s kingdoms were in a state of war during Rehoboam’s entire seventeen-year reign.

Methuselah (6 L) is commonly known as the oldest person mentioned in the Hebrew Bible, and he supposedly lived 969 years, dying on the 11th of Cheshvan of the year 1656, aka seven days before the Great Flood. The Bible states that God delayed his famous flood in honor of Methuselah and to give his people adequate mourning time before they were all washed away.

Salmanazar (9 L) is also known as Shalmaneser, a King of Assyria mentioned in the second Book of Kings.

Balthazar (12 L), a figure from the New Testament, is widely considered to be one of the three wise men who attended the birth of Jesus.

Nebuchadnezzar (15 L) was a ruler of Babylon mentioned in several different books of the Bible; he is most famous for conquering Judah and Jerusalem and is credited for the construction of the Hanging Gardens of Babylon. He was an egotistical leader who sent the Jews into exile and was cursed by God for seven years for his pompous ways.   Interestingly enough, Saddam Hussein considered himself the reincarnation of Nebuchadnezzar. He spent millions of dollars reconstructing ancient Babylon, ordered images of Nebuchadnezzar and himself to be beamed side by side during a laser light show in Baghdad, and even had a replica of Nebuchadnezzar’s war chariot built.

More than just their names and their ever-increasing sizes, large format bottles also depend on the wine region and the type of wine.  For instance, there is the Piccolo, the name for a 187.5 ml bottle for Champagne; however, when this size bottle contains wines other than Champagne, it’s known as a “Pony.” Another exclusive bottle is called the Marie-Jeanne, which is used only in Bordeaux and holds 2.25 L of wine.  One of the most unusual and intense bottling would be the largest bottle in existence, called the Melchizedek. It is a massive bottling used only for Champagne and carries a whopping 30 L of bubbly!

Radikon, from Friuli, has designed their own delicate necked bottles to hold their biodynamic wines.  They also decided to use .5 L bottles to replace .750’s and 1 L bottles to replace a magnum.  Radikon believes that one liter of wine is the perfect amount for two people to enjoy, and half liters are perfect for couples who want to enjoy both a red and a white with lunch or dinner.  These bottle sizes aren’t new, but they are unique to still whites and reds.

Large formats are great for collectors because these wines are rare, collectable and exciting to open.   These bottles also help wine to age really well because there is a relatively smaller air-to-wine ratio, slowing the aging and helping to preserve older vintages that would have passed their peak in regular sized bottles. Big, really big, and super-gigantic-enormous bottles of wine really won’t keep well unless stored in proper temperature controlled space, so our IWM large format offerings are best for serious wine collectors or wine lovers who are immediately celebrating special events.

One more thing, if you need help remembering the order of the large format bottles, just use this handy mnemonic device: My Judy Really Makes Splendid Belching Noises.

Category: Italian Wine Merchants

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