🍷 Champagne bottle
Also known as: Champagne bottle, champenoise bottle, sparkling wine bottle, champagne bottle, bouteille champenoise
The champagne bottle is the strong glass bottle in which champagne undergoes its second fermentation, reaching about 6 bar at 20 °C and closed with cork, cap and a wire muselet.
A champagne bottle (champenoise bottle) is a bottle built to hold about 6 bar of pressure at 20 °C. That pressure is created inside the glass during the second fermentation, which is why the cork is secured by a cap and a wire cage called a muselet. The Comité Champagne calls the bottle an oenological tool, not just a container.
Here is what happens inside. The base wine is bottled with sugar and yeast, the bottle is sealed, and the bubbles form in the glass, a step called prise de mousse. It takes about 1.2 kg of grapes to make one bottle. The minimum ageing is 15 months for non-vintage champagne and 36 for vintage.
Getting there took trial and error. Corks came into use in Champagne in the late 1600s, and in the early 1700s French glassworks copied an English method that gave stronger bottles. Historian Reynald Abad notes that in a very lively year a third of the bottles, or more, could burst. Riddling tables followed in 1816, and the wire-caged cap in 1844.
Compare it with a Bordeaux bottle or Burgundy bottle: those never carry that load. Champagne also has the widest ladder of sizes. It starts with a 20 cl quart and a Half bottle (0.375 l), runs through the Magnum and ends with the 30-litre Midas. That one holds roughly 240 glasses. For more, see Muselet, Sabrage and How sparkling wine is made.
Facts
| Bottle size | Standard 75 cl; formats from 20 cl to 30 l 4 |
|---|---|
| Main use | Second fermentation (prise de mousse) in the bottle; 6 bar at 20 °C 1 |
| Region | Champagne, France 2 |
| Duration | Cork in Champagne: late 1600s; wire-caged cap: 1844 2 |
| Minimum maturation | 15 months (non-vintage), 36 months (vintage) 1 |
How it connects to Wine
🍷 Champagne bottle → kind of → 🍷 Wine bottle ← packed in ← 🍷 Wine
Links
- Next step
- 🍷 Muselet
- Previous step
- 🍷 Sabrage
- What is packed
- 🍷 Champagne, 🍾 How sparkling wine is made
- Part of
- 🍷 Wine bottle
Frequently asked questions
How much pressure is inside a champagne bottle?
About 6 bar at 20 °C, created by the second fermentation in the bottle. The cork is held down by a wire cage, the muselet.
When did the wire cage appear?
In 1844, when the cap held by a wire muselet was invented, according to the Comité Champagne's history sheet.
Is it true that early champagne bottles often burst?
Yes. In very sparkling years a third of the bottles or more could burst in the 1700s, until stronger glass and the English glassmaking method cut the losses.
Why is the glass stronger than in a still wine bottle?
It has to carry about 6 bar. Corks arrived in the late 1600s, and in the early 1700s French glassworks adopted an English method that made bottles more resistant.
How big can a champagne bottle get?
The Comité Champagne lists sizes up to Melchizedek, also called Midas, at 30 litres, equal to 40 bottles and about 240 glasses.
Similar
🍷 Punt (bottle) · 🍷 Bordeaux bottle · 🍷 Burgundy bottle · 🍷 Bocksbeutel · 🍷 Fiasco (bottle) · 🍷 Standard wine bottle (0.75 l)
Sources
- Comité Champagne. Factsheet Champagne Making Process
- Comité Champagne. Fiche Histoire Champagne
- EHNE (Digital Encyclopedia of European History). R. Abad, Second Birth of the Bottle (18th century)
- Comité Champagne. Factsheet Champagne Bottle Sizes