Wine containers and how to close them

Edouard Bourgeois
April 7, 2023

We always talk about “what is in the bottle” but I think it is just as important to discuss the bottle itself (around 30 billion wine bottles are used each year) and how it is closed. Wine producers around the world work extremely hard all year long, dealing with the natural challenges posed by Mother Nature and hoping to produce the most sound and authentic wine. Once this complex process is achieved, it is time to bottle the wine, store it and ship it, sometimes to the other end of the globe. The question of finding the right container then becomes crucial.

If today the familiar glass bottle is the most used container, wine was first stored in animal leather gourd types. It is easy to realize how these containers were far from ideal because of their lack of hermeticity and a tendency to alter the flavors of the wine. A small revolution happened when terra cotta started to develop in the 3rd century. Still in use today and revived with the growing trend of the Georgian qveris, these amphorae presented a new problem - their size was often quite large, making them difficult to transport so consumption remained local. However, these clay vessels were an excellent way to avoid oxidation (if kept closed) and combined with the use of corks developed by the Romans, they played a very important role in showing that wine may age gracefully overtime. Of course, as mentioned above, once open, oxidation became inevitable and the wine had to be consumed quickly.

Georgian workers transport a qveri

Earlier during the 1st century, wood entered the scene as another alternative for wine containers. Apparently first used to store milk in the Alps, the Gauls borrowed that type of container for wine and it quickly became the preferred vessel in Europe. It offered many advantages compared to the amphorae. Lighter, cheaper, easier to stack and easier to transport, the barrel was born and produced in various sizes and shapes (although always rounded). But just like the amphorae, the problem of oxidation remained. Once wine is racked from a barrel, the rest quickly gets exposed to oxygen, resulting in vinegar.

A modern, state-of-the-art barrel cellar in Bordeaux

We had to wait for the Egyptians to come up with the idea of glass, at first created using silica. The development of better ovens and a more acute understanding of glass making took a long time. but fast forward to the 16th century and the glass bottle started to be mass produced, mostly used to store wine. In the 17th century, England took another step towards more sturdy bottles with the use of coal powered ovens (instead of the more scarce wood) while Portugal established itself as the leader in cork production with its strong supply from oak forests. Today, Portugal is still the main producer of natural corks in the world, by far.

The bottle has gone a long way and today is much more than just a recipient. Its shape and size are directly connected with local traditions. The unique vin jaune can only be bottled in a clavelin, this curious, bulky 62 cl bottle proudly encrusted at the neck. Bordeaux adopted its signature angular shoulder bottle to easily retain solidified tannins while Alsace or Germany favor the long “flutes” bottles for their crisp whites. The weight of the bottle then almost became a status. You can still find heavy and thick bottles of US Cabernet or even Bordeaux or Burgundy, that some producers may use to justify what they consider to be a higher quality of wine. However, It seems that these heavy bottles tend to become less and less used as their carbon footprint poses an environmental problem. This idea was reinforced with wine critic Jancis Robinson who started to indicate the bottle weight along with her wine scores.

The timeless “clavelin”, solely used for vin jaune in the Jura. Its content of 62 cl instead of the most common 75 cl reflects the loss of wine during winemaking.

As mentioned above, the cork is the most common choice of closure for wine bottles. Corks come in different sizes and shapes as well, the crème de la crème being the “fleur de liège”: the highest quality, harvested from the heart of the tree bark where it is the most dense, with fewer asperities. Usually these corks are also cut long at a 5 centimeter length and, understandably so, used for the more expensive wines. Each one of these “luxury” corks can cost up to a dollar. Alternatives that are using treated natural cork can also be found with the company DIAM as a leader in that field. These corks, treated against the most common flaw that results in “corked wine”, the molecule 2, 4, 6 -trichloro-anisole (TCA) are adopted by more and more producers. They include some of the finest winemakers such as Dominique Lafon who made the bold move to switch his entire closure program to Diam with the vintage 2013, bottling his prized Volnay and Meursault and even Montrachet Grand Cru under Diam corks.

A DIAM cork in the background versus the untreated cork from Relentless in the foreground

More could be said about bag in boxes, screwcaps, synthetic corks and even wine on tap.

I personally believe that it is important to identify what matters the most when choosing the container and closure options so the quality of the wine is not altered, while favoring less expensive options and environmental friendly alternatives.   

What to Read!

by Edouard Bourgeois

May 11, 2021

I was never the straight A student in school. Being told to study and learn specific topics often did not work with me. It was not due to a lack of interest in learning or laziness (maybe a little) but more because I had my own agenda. For example, I would sneakily be reading a book on the history of the blues in the Mississippi while in science class at age 12.

When I turned 18, I did not know what career path to choose and gave the hospitality industry a try, entering culinary school. It quickly became obvious that this decision proved to be the right one, especially when the topic of wine presented itself.

The reason why I am telling this story of mine is because I found in the subject of wine a meaningful outlet that allowed studying a large spectrum of topics. There is much more than just the trivia question of “what’s the grape variety of Cour Cheverny” (do you know?). Understanding wine means exploring the science of fermentation, the philosophy of so many inspiring producers, the geography of the different wine regions and among all of these subjects I would typically overlook in school, history.

In addition to travelling to wine regions, tasting wines, and meeting various wine producers, reading the right wine books can obviously provide an immense source of information. I recently discovered one of these volumes that I believe should be a reference for all wine afficionados and frankly any history lover. Its title is “Nine Centuries in the Heart of Burgundy” a publication centered on the fabulous story of the Cellier aux Moines, a Burgundy domaine that we are featuring in our live THIRST Class on Saturday May 22nd.

The book features in depth information on the long and eventful history of Burgundy, anecdotes and stunning pictures of the landscape of the region, rare antique maps and other fascinating elements.

What's Pressoir Drinking? Domaine Clair-Daü, Bonnes-Mares Grand Cru 1980

June 25, 2020
by Max Goldberg Liu

This wine was a real treat to taste towards the end of the Gala Dinner at La Paulée de New York 2020. It was fully mature and showed the dark and intense side of Bonnes Mares but with enough fruit to keep things pleasurable. The wine was also a portal into the history of a now-defunct domaine, as Clair-Daü would be sold just five years later, mostly to Jadot.

Founded in 1919 in Marsannay by Joseph Clair and Marguerite Daü, this was one of the greatest estates in Burgundy by the 1970’s with holdings from Clos Vougeot to Bonnes Mares to Clos Saint Jacques. Disputes among the five children, however, caused the domaine to be divided up, with many parcels going to Jadot and the rest being locked into long-term leases with other producers.

Nevertheless, there is a happy ending to the story. Bruno Clair, a grandson of Joseph and Marguerite, was determined to follow in Clair-Daü’s illustrious viticultural footsteps and started his own domaine with his immediate family’s plots in Marsannay and a few other villages. As other family parcels have come out of their long-term leases, he has added them to his now 23 hectare domaine through which the Clair name lives on.

This bottle exhibited the glory of Clair-Daü at the top of its game before it was torn apart, a recurring Burgundian story we see in the histories of so many great estates.

For more information check out:
Daniel, Raj, Edouard, & Max’s podcast discussion of the 1980’s in Burgundy

Eléonore’s interview with Arthur Clair, Bruno’s son