Introduction
What is Nebuchadnezzar? We, as wine lovers, are always used to repeating one more glass of this delicious drink. Whether when we taste it alone, in accompany, or during an event and party.
There are wine bottles that are larger than conventional bottles. These bottles are made for occasions when a considerable amount of wine is required to serve.
Here, we will talk about the Nebuchadnezzar. This wine presentation is an alternative to the classic 750 ml bottles that we can find in wineries or shops dedicated to selling oenological items.
What is the Nebuchadnezzar wine size?
A Nebuchadnezzar wine size consists of a bottle with a capacity of 15 liters (3.96 gallons or 507 ounces) of wine. This bottle size is one of the largest in the wine world. Its capacity allows it to store up to 20 bottles of wine inside or 100 glasses of wine, which is equivalent.
It is the largest bottle size behind the Melchizedek, Goliath, Sovereign, Melchoir, and Solomon.
If we talk about its measures, this bottle has a height of 31 inches and a ratio of 20 (being one the ratio of a standard or 750 ml bottle). This bottle is straightforward to find in some versions of Champagnes, Bordeaux, and Burgundy wines.
As with most wine bottles, the Nebuchadnezzar size bottles are made of glass. They are usually sealed with a cork. Therefore screw-top caps are becoming very popular lately inside this scope. There exist several other methods used to seal a bottle too.
Benefits, prices, and awards of wine Nebuchadnezzar size
The main benefit of acquiring a wine in its Nebuchadnezzar size is that the wine inside the bottle ages better than the wines in other sizes, since the percentage of air present inside is lower compared to smaller bottles, for example, the 750 ml (25.4 ounces), thus reducing the risk of defects.
The larger the bottle is, the less the wine will contact the air remaining in the bottle’s top. Wines bottled in large bottles offer fresher aromas for much longer, maintaining a more significant proportion of their acidity and making their tannins more robust than a wine bottled in a standard size bottle.
These wines may take a while to reach the drinking point, but their flavors will be exceptional when they do.
However, wine quality aside, these types of handcrafted bottles can fetch exorbitant prices—even a little more than the equivalent bottle. For example, a Nebuchadnezzar bottle (15 liters or 507 ounces) can bring a cost of $ 250 in a wine market, while a Solomon bottle (18 liters or 608 ounces) costs around $ 580.
There is the case of other bottles that were mass-produced for special occasions. One of them is a 130-liter bottle (or 4394,2 ounces) (equivalent of 173 bottles) of Private Reserve from Beringer Vineyard from 2001, which holds the record for being the largest bottle of wine produced, being listed as “Maximus Commissioned” in 2004 by the Morton Steak House chain. This bottle was auctioned at a charity event for $55,812.
Origins of the Nebuchadnezzar name
This bottle’s name refers to one of Babylon’s greatest kings: Nebuchadnezzar II (also known as Nebuchadnezzarhr The Great). It was King of the Chaldeans between 605 and 562 BC. Babylon became the Western world’s cultural epicenter and a magnificent city under his rule. After defeating the Egyptians, he conquered and destroyed Jerusalem and captured the upper-class Jews to be later exiled.
This story was used as inspiration by the Italian singer Giuseppe Verdi to write his song “Nabbuco,” sung for the first time in 1842.
How to open and serve a Nebuchadzzenar wine?
If you plan to open a Nebuchadzzenar bottle or another large bottle, you need to take specific considerations.
Wines in large bottles contain more sediment than standard-size wines. To ensure that sediment sinks to the bottom of the bottle rather than being poured into the glass. It is recommended to leave the bottle upright 24 hours before serving.
To uncork a Neebuchadzzenar wine, it is necessary to change a traditional corkscrew for a two-pronged wine opener. This is because larger bottles are stored in an upright position, and since the cork does not get wet with the inner wine, it tends to be more brittle. The best technique is to slide the tips between the cork and the bottle and pull very slowly.
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In addition to the technique, another person must hold the bottle tightly along their arm, placing the bottom of the bottle above the elbow’s crease while the other person uses the opener. For extra stability, the person who holds the bottle should hold the bottle’s neck with their other hand.
Remember: the bottle’s excessive movement during its opening agitates the sediments of the wine inside; therefore, a decanter would be a good option for these cases, allowing you to serve it several times. Another option is to serve the wines in decanters with plastic tubes. This takes extra effort but is an excellent serving trick.
Why do giant wine bottles have Biblical names?
For those who are not familiar with the art of wine, this information can be beneficial. Wine bottles larger than the standard size have biblical names such as Metusaleh, Jeroboam, Balthazar, or Rehoboam.
Metusaleh is a bottle with a capacity of 6 liters (203 ounces), which is equivalent to 8 standard bottles of wine, while Balthazar is the name of a bottle with a total of 12 liters (304 ounces), equivalent to 16 standard-size bottles.
All these names have their origin in the names of ancient kings of Israel, with which the name of each bottle symbolizes a tribute to these characters, and each name represents a statement about the value of the bottle of wine.