Wine Bottles of all Sizes
Wine is always a very interesting subject. There is so much about wine that you need to discover to completely understand and appreciate everything about this fermented juice. Its not necessary to learn all about wine to enjoy it because drinking wine is really where the enjoyment starts and ends.
There are some interesting facts about wine bottles. They come in different sizes, Why? and they come in different shapes and at times colors Why?
Lets first talk about the sizes.
Wine bottle dimensions and wine bottle shapes vary. Wine bottles typically measure 3 to 3.2 inches in diameter and are about 12 inches tall. Champagne comes in slightly larger containers that measure up to 3.5 inches in diameter and closer to 12.5 inches tall in 750-milliliter amounts.
When you go into your local wine retail shop and are looking for a bottle of wine for dinner, you normally would select the standard bottle which is the .750 (n the older days, it was called a 5th)
750ml = 25.3605 oz
5th = 25.6 oz (size became illegal in 1980)
But I am sure you have seen bigger bottles. Many people refer to them as double bottles, but the correct term is magnum. It doesnt stop there, there are bigger and bigger bottles, here is a quick breakdown of the different sizes
Split (Half Bottle) 375ml
Bottle (standard) 750ml
Magnum 1.5 litres or 2 bottles
Double Magnum 3.0 litres or 4 bottles
Jeroboam 4.5 litres or 6 bottles
Methuselah 6.0 litres or 8 bottles
Salmanazar 9.0 litres or 12 bottles
Balthazar 12.0 litres or 16 bottles
Nebuchadnezzar 15.0 litres or 20 bottles
As you can tell, some of these names are a bit strange. The strange ones are named after biblical kings. Here are some myths or stories about these names
Jeroboam was the first king of the northern kingdom of Israel, after they split off from the rest of the kingdom following the death of Solomon.
Rehoboam was a son of Solomon who succeeded his father as king of Israel.
Methuselah was the oldest man in the Bible
Salmanazar was an Assyrian king. In the Bible, he was known for his role in the last conquest of Israel.
Balthazar was one of the Three Wise Men who delivered gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh to Jesus when he was born.
Nebuchadnezzar is credited with the construction of the Hanging Gardens of Babylon as well as with the destruction of Solomon’s Temple.
Besides the interesting myths about these names, the sizes do have a significance when it comes to the wine. Most shoppers of any product will realize that when the size is bigger, you generally pay a litle less. So, a quart of milk lets say cost $1.50, a half gallon which is 2 quarts might only cost $1.35, so you save buying in bulk. 
This is not always the case when it comes to wine.
Most of the time, you will pay more for the larger bottles. Now, for the average medium priced wines (ie Mondavi Private Cellars, Mark West, YellowTail, etc) the double bottle (magnum) will cost a little less than 2 bottles.
But in your finer wines, expect to pay more. For example, a bottle of Chateau Lynch-Bages 2012 may cost $125. The magnum size of that same wine, may run as much as $275. Why? Wines in the magnum size age half the time of a standard bottle of wine. This allows the finer wines to age more gracefully and slowly and because of this, the final results will be finer.
Handling and pouring of these large size bottles can present a bit of a problem. I think anyone can handle the magnum size of wine, but when you start to get into those larger sizes, it becomes more difficult.
At times, too difficult for one person to handle.
I have seen devices such as the one on the left used to pour some special wine out of a large large bottle of wine. This aid makes it a bit easier and chances for breakage is minimized.
I was at a wine tasting, where we had Methuselah size bottles of Champagne. It was hard enough just to pop the cork on the Champagne (using the exact method you do on a single bottle) We ad trouble doing this and at our first pour, one of the bottles slipped and we lost about $700 of Champagne.
So, having a device or pourers who know what they are doing is so very important.