Classic Wines

Video Transcript: Exploring Wine Bottles - Burgundy and Bordeaux

Brian Freedman: Welcome to ClassicWines.com, well today we will be discussing bottle shapes. Now, there are many different shapes of wine bottle, there is Riesling, tall narrow ones, there are champagne and sparkling one bottles, obviously, thicker glass to help with all those pressure issues inside, wider base, narrower neck. We have port bottle shapes, we have -- I don't know if I'd consider a box of wine or a bottle shape, but maybe we'll do a special episode on that, one of these days, good idea; but today we are actually going to focusing on the two main shapes of red wine bottle. We have here the Classic Cabernet or Bordeaux shaped bottle and we have here the Classic Pinot Noir or Burgundy shaped bottle.

Now, with both of these -- well, let's actually talk about wine number one here for a second. This is a Robert Mondavi 2005 Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley. This is really the standard bottle shape, that you will see for all of those Bordeaux varietals, by Bordeaux varietals we mean Cabernet, Merlot, Cabernet Franc and certainly Malbec down in Argentina; great, great stuff these days. This is the standard, straight sides, high shoulder; this is the standard Cabernet or Bordeaux style bottle.

Now, wine number two over here, this is a Burgundy bottle. I don't think, I've ever seen a Pinot Noir or Chardonnay, the two main grapes of Burgundy. I don't think, I have ever seen either of those great varieties in a non Burgundy style bottle. This is an historical phenomenon, they have always done it that way and they will probably always do it that way. Wine is often just as much about tradition as it is anything else; it's one of the great things about it actually.

So, in this case this is the Louis Jadot 2005 Pinot Noir Bourgogne. Actually they have been very nice with this one, Bourgogne literally is just telling us, it's a Burgundy. Red Burgundy has to be Pinot Noir, but for those of us, who are maybe a little bit sketchy on the details of Red Burgundy, they have actually tagged Pinot Noir on to label, nice touch there, it makes life a little bit easier.

Now, this is really -- this is it, these are the main Red bottle shapes, we'll be covering other ones in the future. Sometimes you get like a Gattinara, for example; the Travaglini Gattinara from Piedmont, that actually sort of an odd vaguely Obelisk, didn't think I drop Obelisk shaped wine bottle, but for the most part, you will see these, look for these in the store as long you can get to the juice inside, this is really what matters the most. I want to thank the Wine School of Philadelphia today, for all the help with education and we want to thank ClassicWines.com and especially you for joining us. Drink that wine, no matter what the shape of the bottle is, until next time, I am Brian Freedman. Cheers!