Luca Lazzari
Sous Chef
I’m not a wine connoisseur, I just love wine, and I like tasting a god bottle once in a while: next in line, Valle dei Laghi Merlot, Castelfederer Müller Thurgau, Mons Feretris Bianchello del Metauro
I made some research for my own education and I decided to share them in this post, to illustrate the different bottles used for Italian wines. Bottles vary in color and thickness, and obviously in shape, but generally not in capacity, since wine in Italy is generally sold in 75 cl glass bottles, corresponding to 6 calici (a type of glass).
And since I like fiddling with Photoshop, I created an image, which shows you the different bottles listed in the following paragraphs (with one exception).
Wine bottle designs
Albeisa – This is an ancient bottle, made with thick and dark glass, which was redesigned in 1973 by Piedmontese winemakers for their more important red wines.
Alsaziana, Renana – Slender bottles, generally used for white or rosé wines. They can be colorless or green.
Anfora – Characteristic bottle, in green glass, designed in 1953 by the Italian architect Antonio Maiocchi for Verdicchio dei Castelli di Jesi wine.
Bordolese – Named after Bordeaux region in France, it can be colorless for white wines, green for red wines, brown for aged red wines. Bordolese piccola is a smaller bottle, while Bordolese a spalla alta is more stylish and used for some red wines.
Borgognotta, Borgognona – Cylindrical bottle, named after Burgundy French region. It is colorless for white wines, green and brown for red wines.
Champagne cuvèe – This cylindrical bottle, squatter toward the bottom, is mainly used for spumante wines. It is made with dark and thick glass.
Champagnotta, Sciampagnotta – Cylindrical bottle used for spumante wines. The glass is thicker then a standard wine bottle, due to the higher pressure applied by the sparkling content. The color is typically dark green. Champagnotta bottles may have different capacities, each one of them with a specific name (like piccolo, 0.1875 l, or melchisedec, 30 l).
Chiantigiana – Bottle with a 1.5 l capacity, mainly used for the wines from Chianti area (I couldn’t find any image for this bottle).
Fiasco – Ancient rounded bottle with the bottom half covered by a straw basket. Traditionally used for Tuscany wines, once was very diffused but today is rare due to high costs of production.
Marsalese, Marsala – Mainly used for fortified wines like Marsala, it is made with dark brown or black glass.
Porto – Squat cylindrical bottle, usually green or brown, mainly used for fortified wines like Port, Madeira or Sherry. I must admit these are not Italian wines; I need to find out if this bottle is also used for Italian wines, maybe on some future posts.
Pulcianella – Short, pot-bellied bottle original from the Tuscanian town of Montepulciano, mainly used for fine and rare wines.
Torino – Designed in 2008 for the finest Piedmontese wines from the town and province of Torino, it is an asymmetric bottle, green for white wines and brown for red wines.
If you spot any mistake, please tell me! I'm here to learn, friends.
That’s all, alla salute!
I made some research for my own education and I decided to share them in this post, to illustrate the different bottles used for Italian wines. Bottles vary in color and thickness, and obviously in shape, but generally not in capacity, since wine in Italy is generally sold in 75 cl glass bottles, corresponding to 6 calici (a type of glass).
And since I like fiddling with Photoshop, I created an image, which shows you the different bottles listed in the following paragraphs (with one exception).
Wine bottle designs
Albeisa – This is an ancient bottle, made with thick and dark glass, which was redesigned in 1973 by Piedmontese winemakers for their more important red wines.
Alsaziana, Renana – Slender bottles, generally used for white or rosé wines. They can be colorless or green.
Anfora – Characteristic bottle, in green glass, designed in 1953 by the Italian architect Antonio Maiocchi for Verdicchio dei Castelli di Jesi wine.
Bordolese – Named after Bordeaux region in France, it can be colorless for white wines, green for red wines, brown for aged red wines. Bordolese piccola is a smaller bottle, while Bordolese a spalla alta is more stylish and used for some red wines.
Borgognotta, Borgognona – Cylindrical bottle, named after Burgundy French region. It is colorless for white wines, green and brown for red wines.
Champagne cuvèe – This cylindrical bottle, squatter toward the bottom, is mainly used for spumante wines. It is made with dark and thick glass.
Champagnotta, Sciampagnotta – Cylindrical bottle used for spumante wines. The glass is thicker then a standard wine bottle, due to the higher pressure applied by the sparkling content. The color is typically dark green. Champagnotta bottles may have different capacities, each one of them with a specific name (like piccolo, 0.1875 l, or melchisedec, 30 l).
Chiantigiana – Bottle with a 1.5 l capacity, mainly used for the wines from Chianti area (I couldn’t find any image for this bottle).
Fiasco – Ancient rounded bottle with the bottom half covered by a straw basket. Traditionally used for Tuscany wines, once was very diffused but today is rare due to high costs of production.
Marsalese, Marsala – Mainly used for fortified wines like Marsala, it is made with dark brown or black glass.
Porto – Squat cylindrical bottle, usually green or brown, mainly used for fortified wines like Port, Madeira or Sherry. I must admit these are not Italian wines; I need to find out if this bottle is also used for Italian wines, maybe on some future posts.
Pulcianella – Short, pot-bellied bottle original from the Tuscanian town of Montepulciano, mainly used for fine and rare wines.
Torino – Designed in 2008 for the finest Piedmontese wines from the town and province of Torino, it is an asymmetric bottle, green for white wines and brown for red wines.
If you spot any mistake, please tell me! I'm here to learn, friends.
That’s all, alla salute!
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