Champagne Bottle Sizes and Names

We all know of different brands of Champagne and different Champagne glasses you can drink it from, but there are also a lot of different Champagne bottle sizes. What are the different sizes of Champagne bottles? There are 15 different sizes, ranging from 0.2 litres up to 30 litres. The most common, or “Standard” bottle is 0.75 litres.

Several of the bottles are named for Biblical kings and historical figures.

Piccolo or Quarter

A Piccolo, or Quarter is 1/4 of a bottle. In Italian, it means “small”. It is 187.5ml which is exactly equal to one Tulip glass

Half Bottle

A Half Bottle is, exactly half a bottle, that is 0.375 litres.

Demi

A Demi is a 500ml champagne bottle. It is also known occasionally as ‘Fillete’ which means “little girl”.

Standard Bottle

Simply the most popular champagne bottle. It contains 6 standard glasses

Magnum (2 bottles, 1.5 liters)

Meaning “great” in Latin, the Magnum is twice the size of a standard bottle at 1.5 litres. It is claimed by producers that it is the ideal bottle for aging champagne. Anything larger can affect the riddling process.

Jeroboam (4 bottles, 3 liters)

Jeroboam was the 1st king of the Northern Kingdom of Israel, ruling during the late 10th century BC. Jeroboam literally means “he increases the people”. It is twice the size of the Magnum.

Rehoboam (6 bottles, 4.5 liters)

Rehoboam was the son of King Solomon and also the grandson of King David. He ruled the Kingdom of Judah in the 10th century BC. Ready for a larger party?this bottle contains 4.5 litres of Champagne.

Methuselah (8 bottles, 6 liters)

Named after the was a biblical patriarch who reportedly died at the age of 969, this champagne bottle contains 6 litres or 64 glasses of Champagne.

Salmanazar (12 bottles, 9 liters)

Holding 9 litres, the equivalent of 12 bottles or 72 champagne glasses, the Salmanazar is named after an Assyrian king.

Balthazar (16 bottles, 12 liters)

A Balthazar bottle contains a massive 12 litres of champagne or 16 standard bottles. Balthazar was a biblical figure, who was one of three Wise Men that presented gifts at Jesus’ nativity.

Nebuchadnezzar (20 bottles, 15 liters)

The Nebuchadnezzar champagne bottle holds 15 litres. Nebuchadnezzar was the king of Babylon from 605 BC until 562 BC. He was the most powerful monarch of the Neo-Babylonian Empire.

Solomon (24 bottles, 18 liters)

King Solomon succeeded his father, King David of Israel. He was reportedly extremely wealthy and a very wise king. The Solomon bottle is relatively rare and is only produced by some of the original French Champagne producers.

Sovereign (34 bottles, 25 liters)

The Sovereign champagne bottle was reportedly created by Taittinger in 1988. It was to celebrate the launch of the then-world’s largest cruise liner ‘Sovereign of the Seas‘.

Primat or Goliath (36 bottles, 27 liters)

The Primat bottle has a capacity of 27 liters or 36 bottles. this bottle weighs around 65 kilograms (143 pounds) and stands 1 metre or 40 inches tall. “Primat” probably refers to the Latin word ‘prīmās‘, meaning ‘chief or noble’.

Melchizedek Or Midas (40 bottles, 30 liters)

This is the largest of all Champagne bottles, holding 30 liters of champagne, or 40 standard 750 ml bottles. You could fill 240 classic flute glasses. Perfect for any occasion. Melchizedek was the King of Salem in biblical times. Midas refers to the Greek Mythological figure who had the ability to turn things into gold when touching them.

This story first appeared on expensivechampagne.org