Buying a bottle of wine... part 3 : Size matters!

Of course now all of you keep wondering about the headline of this post and must have some hidden agenda while reading this.... Guys/Ladies! Of course size matter! Not to big and not to small.... a 0.75 l bottle is the right size!!.... What else were you thinking of?

Indeed after now figuring out what kind of wine (red or white) and from which country (maybe France?) it is now important to consider what size the bottle should have. However so far what I have seen in the Scandinavian area most of the wine selling shops have 0.75 l bottles, which is a general standard for wine bottles. 

But why should you consider now the size and what kind of different sizes are actually available on the free market? Good questions to be honest. There are 0.375, 0.75, 1.5, 2.5 and 5.0 liter glass bottles available. The latter two are normally not so easy to be found in general wine shops and requires either to be bought directly from the wine Mansion or from a specialized shop, e.g. the Internet. The 0.375 bottles I have seen in some French Mensa / lunchrooms and on airplanes. Nevertheless you can buy them also in wine shops but you might not seem them so often, because 0.375 l is just enough for two glass of wine. Plus you might find a good or excellent wine from good wine maker regions not in this size category. The reason? It is just too expensive for wine Mansion to fill up the bottles in these small size bottles. Also most of the people who wants to have an excellent wine consider also to store it over a long period of time - 0.75 bottles are best for this. 

You might realize now where I wanna go. So actually what is best size? If you ask me I would definitely say it's 0.75 l. You can store them easily in a wine cellar. When stored over a long period of time the surface/volume ratio is best for the surrounding temperature to influence the development of wine compounds. The bigger the bottle the surface/volume ratio is less good for this. Another point is the handling. If you are having guest and you want to serve them with a 1.5 liter bottle or more the handling will be quite thought to serve in an appropriate way. Also while serving you will definitely start to sweat, that is SO perfect for the start of an romantic evening.... One more point is if you want to buy a bottle as a present than the probability is higher that the person who receives the bottle will share it with you. Very important when you buy a good wine... so vice versa if you want to avoid to have a share buy a bigger one.

Two different sizes for wine bottles:
Right: 0.75 l, Left: 1.5 l

So why are there bigger bottles than 0.75 l when 0.75 l actually is best. Pff... bon alors... again it depends on the situation for which you are buying the bottle, putting most of the points aside why I see 0.75 bottles as best. So if you would go for a nice evening of two to four friends you can definitely go for one or two 0.75 bottles. Also you can chose two different wine bottles and enjoy some variety. (Note: if you know or think that your friends are more into wine then buy a third one. There is always someone who is thirsty). 

In the case you know that there will be more guests than 4 or 6 (all of them wine drinker) you should go for a 3 l wine case (3 l plastic bag behind nice cardboard boxes). This is especially important if you definitely know that there will be a pack of wine-thirsty French or Finnish friends and you don't wanna be broken because of buying wine... However I must say I don't like so much these 3 l boxes 'cause you rarely find a good wine in these. Even tho I have to say some of the Australian wine's (yeah I know I have forgotten to remember the name, again) in these boxes are of good quality. Please bear in mind these boxes are not for storage and more for immediately drinking.

Also when you go and buy a present for someone, think if the person is into wine and know what is good and what is not so good, or to make it even more complicate you don't know his/her taste. Then you should consider buying two different bottles of wine (e.g. one with more and the other with less tannins, or white and red wine). I think you somehow might have now an idea when and why you should go for bigger wine sizes or more bottles of the-best- size-for-wine 0.75 liter. 

And ouais ouais I don't have clearly answered the last question why are there bigger bottles than 0.75 l available. The answer: Well I don't know. I would guess they are a nice old relict of the time before the plastic wine boxes came along and so far have remained. 

Bon mes amis! Now you learned why size matter when it comes to wine. I hope you had a nice weekend! So far à bientôt!

PS: On my first trip to Sweden I encountered something which really shocked me and made me laugh. Remember the 0.375 l bottles? They actually do have 0.25 l bottles tetra packs! Mon Dieu! Ca c'est un vrai sacrilège (this is a real sacrilege). What's next? Wine out of can's? But to save the Swedish people from another 6:1. Finland also made a hit into my world view of wine...when I was on Friday having Dinner with a good Finnish friend of mine at Amarillo we had to order on the bar 'cause the restaurant was to full. When we were asking for a list of wines they said that they only have draft wine.... draft wine like draft beer? Yeah right - right out of the tap. I had to taste it... i-m-p-r-e-s-s-i-v-e taste... *gasp* Okay now I believe that there must be also wine in can's available...oh là là là...