Why and how?

Have you ever wondered why Chianti stopped selling in wicker baskets, what does Dad have to Chateauneuf-du-Pape and why do some bottles, the bottom is flat and the other concave?

Here are the answers to some of these important issues.

“Fiasco” Of Chianti

Anyone who has been to the Italian restaurants, probably faced with big-bellied bottles of Chianti in wicker baskets. Common once characterized the bottles are now more commonly used as a decorative element as vases and candlesticks.

Historically, their popularity is due to the fact that they were stronger than other bottles, so suitable for long-term transportation, and the presence of wicker baskets eliminates the need to do a flat bottom so they were still cheap. At the same time, the rough appearance of these bottles has become firmly associated with a rather lousy content because the Chianti was cheap swill, which the peasants drink lunch, as well as pay taxes.

The Italian word fiasco simply means “flask”, but the meaning of this word in many other languages, spawned a mockery of the phrase chianti fiasco sounding like a question: “whether the word fiasco to the bottle or its contents?”

To the extent that, as winemakers began to improve the quality of their wines, they began to avoid traditional bottles and braided to prefer more solid Bordeaux bottles. In 1980, the consortium of Chianti Classico has finally banned the use of such bottles for their wines.

The wire on Rioja

A number of modern bottles of Rioja from a whimsical geometric logo you can always find traditional designs with gold-embossed, Gothic script, and a mesh of thin wire gold colors frame the bottle.

This accessory was invented Hurtado de Amezaga of Marques de Riscal in an attempt to prevent the fraudsters give cheap Spanish wine for top positions Rioja, perekleivat labels.

Over time, this practical addition to has developed into a prestigious attribute: gold net on the bottle like he said “this wine is worth it to forge”. Today its function is purely decorative, the grid is easily removed from the bottle and poses no interference for… sober.

“Punt” – a concave bottom of the bottle

There is some pleasure in the fact that to grasp the bottle with his thumb in a rounded hollow…

However, contrary to popular myth, its presence says nothing about the quality of the wine in the bottle.

According to one version (presumably French), is a recess, called a “punt”, was used in the “design” bottles of Bordeaux and Burgundy to give them the best transportability: to make it easier to carry them around the country and across the ocean. For red wines “punt” is justified by the ability to form a precipitate that settles between him and the walls of the bottle and does not rise when pouring.

According to another version, this improvement is a consequence of the imperfection of technology that did not allow to make a perfectly flat bottom, which bottle is bad or was on the plane, or scratching the table with the seam, and the “blowing” of the bottom inside eliminate these problems.

German “flute” (elongated bottles), which are bottled Riesling, Gewurztraminer and Pinot Gris, do not have such recesses. Either because they rolled sedately on barges on the Rhine, or because white wines have no such problems with the sediment. Or glassmakers and equipment were historically better than the French.

However, for the bottles of champagne the concave shape of the bottom is really justified by the durability – it can better withstand the high pressure inside.

At the same time, the flat bottom of a bottle of champagne “Crystal” from Louis Roederer, known for the fact that it was created for the Russian Tsar Alexander II. According to legend, feared attempts by the monarch felt that in the recess it is possible to hide the bomb, and under the dark glass may contain poison. Ostensibly, it was the result of Imperial paranoia, this champagne – crystal-clear bottle of crystal and a flat bottom.

Embossed keys of Chateauneuf-du-Pape

French wines of the appellation Châteauneuf-du-Pape from southern Rhone, one of the most famous in the wine world. Perhaps you don’t have to drink, but almost certainly you had eyes on these solid bottle with a picture of crossed keys.

A good Chateauneuf is never cheap. As the bottle for him. On each – embossed papal seal.

In the 14th century the papal court moved to Avignon in the South of the Rhone Valley. Châteauneuf-du-Pape means “new castle of the Pope” has become his new fiefdom. And dad began to slap his stamp right and left, crossed her bottles of local wine based on Grenache (do not forget to monitor their contents, of course). Six centuries later the seal became an integral part of the brand châteauneuf-du-Pape.

The Franconian bocksbeutel

This flat, like a soldier flask bottle, from the German Franconia. But we know her more through guilt Portuguese Mateus rose (Mateus Rosé).

Bocksbeutel (it. bocksbeutel), in the basic version, got its name due to the similarity in the contour of a goat’s scrotum (bocks – goat, beutel – pouch, and so then. the scrotum). Undoubtedly, rural people to appreciate such art parallel easier. Citizens this version you have to take on faith.

So it or not, but the flat shape allows the bottle to stay where it was dropped, not to roll away, valuable information for any drinking as the Franconian peasant.

Later (in the 1950s), this form has adopted a Portuguese producer of “green” wine , bringing to market their glamorous brand of lightly sparkling, slightly sweet rosé wine Mateus rose. The shape of the bottle was a good marketing ploy. Low bottle Mateus was not seen for the other standard – but, contrary to the fears of the son of the founder, the head of the company saw this as an advantage: because of their low “growth” sellers have put them in the first row on the shelf.

The wine label was decorated with the image of the castle Mateus Palace, which had no relationship to the manufacturer, but was a local landmark. For the use of the image of the castle, its owner received from the winemaker substantial amount. From the rights to a small portion of the income from future sales (instead of a large one-time payment) the owner of the castle declined. And do not guess. In the 1980s, Mateus rose was about 40% of exports of table wines of Portugal.