Champagne Bottles

Very few people around the world don’t enjoy a nice glass of expensive champagne. Champagne signals luxury, wealth and extravagance, and is the drop of choice at most major celebrations around the world. This article will look at some of the bottles that champagne comes in, and the important of the bottle in the making of champagne itself.

Champagne is fermented inside the bottle to create carbonation which makes it a champagne. Champagne is produced from various types of wine - usually chardonnay and/or pinot noir or pinot meunier. These are then blended and put inside a bottle with a cork on top and left for a second fermentation process. Once the ageing process is complete the bottle is manipulated in a process called remuage, which is traditionally done by hand but is now often done by machines. Remuage is done so that the lees (sediments) settle in the bottle of the neck. To remove the lees from the bottle without causing un-carbonation, the neck of the bottle is frozen and the cap removed, and the bottle is quickly corked. This entire champagne making process is called methode champenoise or methode traditionnelle outside of France.

Champagne can be bought in a variety of different bottles - both in shape and size. The most common sized bottles are a standard bottle which is 0.75 liters, and a magnum which holds 1.5 liters of champagne. Magnums are generally considered to be of a higher quality than the standard sized bottles as there is less oxygen in the bottle and the volume to surface area ratio is lower creating better bubbles. Champagne in bottles larger than 3 liters (called a Jeroboam) are very rare. Drappier champagne house however does exclusively have two very large champagne bottles - a Primat, which holds 27 liters of champagne, and the Melchizedek size - which holds 30 liters of champagne and was released in 2002.

Many champagne houses release special edition bottles to coincide with an anniversary, special event or for high-profile people such as royalty. The best known of which is probably the 20 fluid ounce bottle made for Sir Winston Churchill by Pol Roger.

A piccolo champagne bottle is a quarter size champagne bottle that is quite popular around the world, especially for those that want a high quality champagne but do not want to drink it all at once. A piccolo champagne bottle holds 0.1875 liters.

A demi bottle of champagne is half the size of a standard bottle of champagne, and holds 0.375 liters of champagne. A double magnum holds the equivalent of 4 standard bottles of champagne - 3 liters.

Many of the larger sized champagne bottles are named after Biblical characters. The Methuselah champagne bottle is named after the oldest man in the bible, and holds 8 standard bottles of champagne - 6 liters.

The Salmanazar champagne bottle named after the Assyrian King, holds 12 standard bottles of champagne - 9 liters. Whereas, the Balthazar (named after one of the wise men) holds 12 liters of champagne, which is 16 standard bottles.

The Nebuchadnezzar holds 20 standard bottles of champagne; the Melchior holds 24 standard bottles of wine; the Solomon holds 26 and two thirds standard bottles of champagne; the Sovereign holds 33.5 standard bottles of champagne; and the Primat holds 36 standard bottles of champagne.

So as you can see, there are some very large champagne bottles out there! Many of these reach into the tens of thousands of dollars in price.

Champagne bottles differ in shape to normal wine bottles. They generally have thick walls and a wide and pronounced punt with sloping shoulders. Most champagne bottles are made of green glass.

Every champagne bottle has a cork on the top, usually surrounded in a foil capsule. Often the capsules of more expensive champagnes are made of wax. Traditionally the capsules were made of lead to prevent rodents from gnawing away at the corks. These were however proven to have toxic lead remnants in them, and were officially banned in the USA in 1996.

There is an art to opening a champagne bottle, and often due to the carbon dioxide content of the champagne, the cork can have a dangerous projectile. To minimize this, it is recommended that when opening you hold the cork and twist the bottle slowly to ease out the cork. Also, by using a 45 degree angle the champagne has a maximum surface area which minimizes excessive bubbling once opened.

Opening champagne bottles is a major part of many sporting ceremonies, ever since Moet and Chandon offered bottles of their champagne to winners of the Formula 1 car races. At the end of the races it is now tradition for the winner to spray champagne over the other drivers and the spectators.