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The Evolution Of The Bottle The Effect Of Bottle Size Traditional Shapes And Colours Modern Wine Bottles

Some New World wine producers adopt bordeaux-shape bottles for Cabernet Sauvignon wines, burgundy-style ones for Chardonnay and Pinot Noir. However, bottle size and shape is increasingly a marketing tool: new wines in Italy announce themselves with expensive, heavy glass and unusual colours (a very dark green is fashionable) and shapes. Some German producers use burgundy-shaped bottles for Pinot Blanc (Weissburgun-der) and other wines. Half-bottles are increasingly used for sweet wines and other specialties, and the 50cl size is being used in Italy for wines such as Recioto de Soave which are sipped rather than gulped.