Deep Punts,
Ever wandered into a wine shop and had to decide on which bottle to choose to go with your dinner but you can’t make up your mind? If you’re like me, you end up standing there for a good 98 years wondering about which one to get. I pick up bottles, read the back label, put it back on the shelf, pick up another read the back label and repeat this process another 98 times. All the while I am subconsciously judging the wines depending on how deep the punt of it is or the shape of the bottle, the weight, the fancy or cool label, but does this all really matter.? I have this weird idea in my head that the depth of the punt establishes the quality of a wine. Funny how Riesling is my favourite white wine, yet has no punt at all though.? Considering this, I decided to do a little research and find out if there is any correlation between punt depth and quality of wine. By the way, for those of you who don’t know, the punt is the indentation on the base of the bottle, just before I start blabbering on about bottles and shapes and you still didn’t have a clue what I was on about!
The shape of bottles depends a lot upon the history of the region it was first developed, there are 3 major shapes within the world of wine
The Burgundy Bottle
Invented sometime in the 19th century, the burgundy bottle has it’s curved sides simply due to the fact that it was easier for glassmakers to produce. Burgundy soon became responsible for making the 1st and finest wines out of Chardonnay and Pinot Noir and they used this shape for the red and white Burgundies. After time the bottle could be found everywhere around the world and soon became recognised as the bottle for good quality Chardonnays and Pinot Noirs, as these grapes spread so did the bottle. Nowadays, grapes with similar characteristics often use this shape such as Nebbiolo, Gamay and Etna Rosso. White wines with this bottle shape often indicate good quality wines that are oaked, However, unoaked Chardonnay is becoming a bit of a thing so this is not always the case.
The Bordeaux Bottle
Created shortly after the Burgundy bottle, came the famous Bordeaux bottle. Bordeaux creates two of the world’s most famous grape varieties, on the left bank of the Gironde in the Medoc is primarily Cabernet Sauvignon, whereas on the right bank is mainly Merlot, this is where I was based in Cote de Blaye. The Bordeaux bottle very quickly became the most recognised and used bottle with its distinctive shoulders, these were apparently designed to stop sediment created by these wines from coming out of the bottle whilst decanting. The shape of the bottle may be just to set it apart from it’s Burgundian cousin.
The Alsatian/ Mosul Bottle
This bottle shape was designed for different reasons compared to Burgundy and Bordeaux. Created mainly for Riesling wines, also known for housing similar style grapes such as Gewürztraminer. These wines are a lot more delicate than the robust Bordeaux wines. Regions from which this wine was produced often required the wines being transported across the River Rhine, which meant smaller ships were used, which therefore meant bottles needed to be slender in order to fit as many as possible inside the hull. As it was transported over the river, the bottles could be more delicate as it was a much gentler voyage than by sea. Bordeaux and Burgundy wines often found themselves being exported to Great Britain.
Since then, these different regions have simply stuck to their old roots. There isn’t a simple correlation between regions and bottle style anymore as new world wines have changed the dynamics of bottling and labelling.
Punts were originally created by glassblowers so that the bottle could stand up and not have any sharp edges underneath. These days’ bottles are machine made and much stronger so the punt is just a tradition that has carried on. Punts do have structural reasons especially for sparkling wines, it helps to distribute the pressure within the bottle evenly throughout, and can also aid the cooling of white wines as it increases the surface area. There is also the fact that some producers may not have a massive budget to spend on their bottles and yet still produce fantastic wines, if you’re producing on a large scale, these little extra intricate details on bottles can really add up and decrease margins for the winemakers.
ANYWAY…… Who’d of thought that a punt would have so many different functions? After researching and sussing out the reasons behind bottles and their shapes, I’ve realised that it doesn’t really matter. In future, say if there were two very similar bottles that I was unsure of what to go for, I won’t be judging them by the shape, design or punt, instead I shall be doing what we should all be doing anyway, and buying the wine depending on its location, it’s vintage, the winemaker and the price!