Vicky's adventures

Why the bottom of the bottles are pushed in?

I was hanging around a wine shop innocently drinking an easy white Menetou- Salon when a question I had heard many times before it struck my mind. WHY ARE THE BOTTOMS OF THE BOTTLES PUSHED IN?

As soon as I had said that, the wine merchant looked at me with round eyes and laughed. You must understand that there is a specific word for this placement on a bottle in French that is “cul-de-bouteille” which literally means A**-of-a-bottle” in English. And when you talk about an a** early at a wine tasting, whether it is the bottles’ one or any other, it sounds out of place. I guess this is not only because of the name but also the shape. The wine merchant told me he has debated the taboo many times with clients and friends and I think that thinking about it, we can all agree that it is an awkward question.

Still this is a real question that deserves a real answer. I may be provocative sometimes, but I was craving an answer. The wine merchant sounded so sure of himself that for a few days after he gave me his version, I was showing off in front of my friends pretending I had the secret:

- Wine bottles’ bottoms are pushed in to favour the aging of the wine. Put in a cellar in an horizontal position, the wine m olecules in the liquid react and the sediment resulting from the reaction falls on the slope made by the hole shape. Because it is a slope, the sediment is always slipping very slowly, favouring new chemical reactions in the wine and a better aging. It is also a good way to keep the sediment deposit at the bottom when you serve a wine.-

This explains why wines that are supposed to age have bigger punt underneath while whites and rosés, that are usually drunk early after production have very tiny kick-up.

Very scientific and convincing isn’t it? I know. But I am afraid that this whole story is only a myth and that the taboo helped build hundreds of other stories of this kind. Some are practical, others scientific, some are historical and some are complete jokes. I had to ask everyone around what they thought about it and they all provided their own explanation, often similar to the one found in the literature on this enigma.

For practical people, this punt is only made to place your thumb so it is easier to serve the wine. It is also said to be there to help the bottle be more stable on a table, the dimple allowing for a larger margin of error, but then why is it not used with other liquids? Since bottles are made in factories, it would also facilitate the displacement of the bottle on a conveyor belt, but I don’t think we can agree on this one as it comes too late in the history of the bottle creation. Historicaly, we can also believe it comes from a glass blowing technique, the punt being the place where the glass blowing stick is attached.

Concerning these very logical explanations, I would advise you to look at this video from Channel 5: not so evident isn’t it? There are indeed many more flights of fancy in the search for the right answer and you are free to make up your own, just try to be inventive. I guarantee it is not easy (a barman told me it is made for bottle-philes, I am not sure it is worth repeating).To me, there are the real reasons, like the wine blowing techniques and then the benefits drinkers have taken from the dip, which should not be confused with the origin of the punt.

Some like Alexander II, tsar of Russia decided to adapt in the opposite direction. Alexander II was so scared of attacks against him that he asked the wine makers of his favourite Champagne, Cristal from Roederer, to make bottles without any punt in the bottom so no one could hide any explosives. That is why today the Champagne Cristal has a flat bottom. Some others like the Chateau de la Grille (Chinon) went against the conventions and bottled their red wine in a Champagne bottle (see picture). The result is surreal.

, Not finding having the right answer is after all not such a big deal. Wine is after all a generator of myths, anecdotes and poetry. Without all the beliefs around it it would lose all its value and interest.

More explanations: www.oregonwines.com/wine101.php?SectionID=7&FaqID=73


Miss Vicky Wine 304 posts

My father is a wine maker in beaujolais and I go sip wines everywhere. I was first know as a wine blogger, today I also write in French on a national magazine online plateform that is hosting my wine blog. They wanted someone to give a fresh twist to the French wine world. They got me. Read more

2 Comments

  • Joanna Steven (5402 days ago) Reply

    Too funny! When I was living in Paris, a friend told me you should always get a red wine with the pushed-in bottom. Since then, whenever I buy wine my husband or I put a thumb underneath the bottle and the other always asks "Il y a un cul?". :D

  • Vicky Wine (5397 days ago) Reply

    ahah! That's funny! And I would say it is not completly wrong, specially if you want to keep the wine a long time, it should preserve better if there is a "cul".
    I just received an other answer on the matter:
    "The punt helps to give structural integrity to the bottle" (Vincent)
    Why not!

Leave a Reply

* Comments first need to be approved to show in this post.