WHY ARE THE WINE BOTTLES 750 ml?
Wine bottles are usually 750ml (75cl) and not a litre (1,000ml), but where does this specification come from?
The capacity of a bottle of wine normalized in the 19th century and the craziest explanations for this fact emerged, which often corresponded to these hypotheses:
– The lung capacity of a glassblower;
– Average consumption in a meal;
– The best ability to store wine;
– Ease of transport
Well, it’s none of that
In reality it is simply a practical organization with a historical basis: At the time, the main customers of French winemakers were the British.
The British unit of volume was the “imperial gallon” equivalent to 4.54609 litres.
To simplify the conversion accounts, they transported Bordeaux wine in 225-litre barrels, i.e. exactly 50 gallons, corresponding to 300 750ml bottles. (75 centilitres).
Since it was easier to calculate, they adopted a barrel = 50 gallons = 300 bottles.
In this way one gallon corresponded to 6 bottles.
Actually, this is why even today wine boxes often have 6 or 12 bottles.
I read about other theories but I must say I really liked this one.
source: Jonathan Chabat
The iStill Blog 