Custom Wine Cellars In Houston TX: What Shape Is Your Wine Bottle?

Owners of custom wine cellars in Houston TX know how much fun having a personal wine collection can be.  Having a wine cellar gives them the space they need to collect and store a wide variety of wines from around the world.  It also gives them a perfect venue for hosting get-togethers and wine-tasting parties for family and friends.  But one of the things that people who have custom wine cellars in Houston TX relish most is learning about the history and process of winemaking and everything that goes along with it.

From learning which wine regions are the most popular to how to read wine labels, there are almost an infinite number of things to learn about wine.  And when you want to impress your friends with your wine savvy, you don’t have to know what the optimal temperature is for growing every grape varietal.  You can start small by learning which glass to use with which wine and how bottle shapes can tell you what kind of wine is inside the bottle.

Many people who drink wine occasionally don’t pay attention to the shape of the bottle it’s poured from; but the shape and color of the bottle is an important part of the winemaking tradition.  Though there are no hard and fast rules, in general, you can find these types of wines in specific bottles:

Bordeaux wine bottles have straight sides and tall shoulders.  Dark, green glass is used for dry, red wines from the region and light, green glass is used for dry, white wines.  For sweet whites, clear glass is used.

Burgundy wine bottles are sturdier and slightly bigger in diameter than most wine bottles and they have gently sloping shoulders.  Both red and white wine bottles are made of the same shade of dark, green glass.

Rhône Valley wine bottles are similar to Burgundy bottles, including the dark, green color; but they’re slightly smaller in diameter.  In addition, these bottles often bear a coat of arms on the neck.

Champagne wine bottles have developed their shapes based on necessity rather than aesthetic beauty.  The pressure inside a Champagne bottle can range from 80 to 90 psi, which means they have to be made of thicker glass with gently sloping shoulders and a deep punt or indentation on the underside.  The glass used is medium to dark green.

Mosel and Alsace wine bottles are tall and slender with gently sloping shoulders.  The glass used is green and the wine in the bottles can be dry or sweet.

Rhine wine bottles are similar to Mosel and Alsace bottles except that the glass used is brown or amber.  And as with the Mosel and Alsace, the wine inside the bottles can be dry or sweet.

Fortified wines like Port, Madeira or Sherry come in bottles with tall, straight sides and almost-square shoulders.  Vintage Port bottles often have bulges in the necks that allow for trapping sediment when the wine is decanted.

If you’re an avid wine collector, get more enjoyment out of your wine by calling Vineyard Wine Cellars at (866) 615-4008.  We build custom wine cellars in Houston TX and we’d love to work with you to design the perfect home for your wine and the perfect backdrop for your get-togethers.  Visit us at www.vineyardwinecellars.com to see a gallery of our completed projects.

Custom wine cellars in Houston TX
Vineyard Wine Cellars
15020 Beltway Dr.
Addison, Texas 75001
866-973-1100 972-712-9600