Usually, we are not too interested in the shape of the wine bottle we are going to drink, but the bottle actually says a lot about the wine it contains. In this article, we want to shed light on a wine bottle, in particular, its capacity. Why is the standard wine bottle exactly 750 ml? Why doesn’t it contain half a liter or a whole liter?
Theories about the origin of the wine bottle
The standardization of bottle capacity began only in the 1970s, when European packaging legislation was introduced. After that, other countries of the world joined this agreement and the standardized measure of a wine bottle was set at 750 ml. Before that, the volumes of bottles were different: 700 ml, 800 ml, even 730 or 620 ml. The confusion with the volumes of bottles made it difficult to control the wine trade, and, for example, in Britain, there was a ban on the sale of wine in bottles for almost 150 years. What are the theories about the history of the origin of the 750 ml volume:
Roman origin
One of the theories of the origin of wine bottles comes from the times of the Roman Empire. Although they made little use of glass for containers, they used a small vessel (Acetabulum, i.e. a basin), about 250 ml. Legionnaires drank water, adding sour cheap wine or vinegar to it. This is how the most popular drink of Roman soldiers, called posca, was made. Three such vessels were the amount of daily consumption of this drink by a Roman soldier.
Medieval origin
Another theory, and perhaps the most acceptable one, comes from medieval Europe. At that time, the most accepted measure in international trade was the English gallon. A bottle of 750 ml is approximately equivalent to 1/5 of a gallon – this is ideal for transportation, as such volumes were easy to count. Each box of wine could contain only 2 gallons, and the British put 10 bottles in a box.
The amount of wine drunk during a meal
One of the old theories of the origin of 750 ml bottles was about the equivalent volume of wine that a person consumed during dinner (6 serving glasses of 125 ml each). Perhaps in ancient times it was so during feasts, but we warn you – this amount is not healthy even when consumed throughout the day.
Human lungs as a standard
The production of bottles was carried out by craftsmen until it was possible to industrialize it in the eighteenth century. During this process, the most important step was the blowing of the bottle by the craftsman, he had to form the volume himself. Since the volume of the lungs of a healthy adult is approximately 700 ml, bottles of this capacity were obtained.
No one can say for sure which of the theories about why the standard wine bottle has a volume of exactly 750 ml is the most likely. But in any case, its standardization was carried out and turned out to be very successful, as today it is an ideal amount for a romantic dinner for a couple in love.