Posted by Brent Modzelewski on May 2, 2020
Wine Bottle Anatomy
I like the shape of you.
(Bottle Series 1/3)
Most parts of the bottle are self-explanatory, but we will cover each one for completeness sake.
You may have even seen people pouring wine by sticking their thumb in the punt and cradling the body with their fingers.
That is not the actual purpose of the Punt...read on to find out what the Punt is really for.
There are three other parts to the bottle that are worth mentioning, but technically not part of the glass bottle itself.
This is the Closure which is the cork, the Capsule which is the foil around Neck and Finish that protects cork and finally the Label which identifies the wine.
Check out the January 2020 wine blog post about corks.
- Starting at the top of the bottle is the Mouth which is the opening from which the wine is poured.
- The small area around the Mouth is the Lip.
- Below the Mouth, there is a bumped out ring called the Collar.
- The Lip and Collar combined is called the Finish.
- Moving down is the Neck which then flares out into the Shoulder.
- The Shoulder connects the Neck to the Body.
- At the bottom of the bottle is the Heel which is the edge on which the bottle stands.
- The Punt is the cavity in the bottom of the bottle.
Wine Nerd Fact Information
Original wine bottles were hand-blown. Blown glass is imperfect and to be sure a bottle, vase or glass stands upright, a Punt is added to the bottom of the piece.
I know this from personal experience because I have hand-blown many vases, cups, bottles and plates.
Adding a punt to the bottom of the blown glass ensures there isn't a protrusion left from the punty (the rod used to take the glass off the pipe).
Does a deeper Punt, mean a higher quality wine? Not really.
However, in general, higher quality bottles (meaning thicker glass) do indicate a more expensive wine.
Also, the deeper the punt, the more glass that is needed for the bottle, which means a higher bottle cost.
Winemakers aren't going to spend money on an expensive bottle for cheap wine.
Why do some bottles have deep Punts?
Sparkling wines like Champagne, Cremant and Prosecco, have thicker bottles and deeper punts for structural reasons.
These wines are partially bottle fermented and build up pressure inside the bottle during the fermentation process.
The deep thick Punt helps prevent the bottom of the bottle blowing out from pressure.
Go check your wine glasses, they have a very shallow Punt. Why doesn't anyone talk about that?
Wine2Oh Recommended Wine
Take two not so popular varietals blend them together and what do you get?
Pine Ridge White Blend
Chenin Blanc + Viognier
This is a fantastic white wine for under $20 and available at most wine retailers.
Disclaimers: We are not affiliated, sponsored or funded for this blog post. It is purely for the love of wine.
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