Where Did It Go?

…and other thoughts one has when finishing wine.

The other night my husband and I were kicking back, each with a glass of red wine.  It was good enough we decided to go back for a second.  I pour the wine, then pause.  The bottle is empty…it shouldn’t be empty!  Where did the wine go?  It was just last weekend that we had gone through the same routine, only then, with the same size glasses, we were able to get two and a half glasses of wine each from the same bottle.  Why is it that today there are only two glasses for each of us?

Now, the most likely case is that the previous week I poured less for the initial glasses, leaving enough for a half glass each in the end. But, here’s the thing…I know that this thought has come up before. Whether it be wine, tequila, scotch or whatever spirit, there have been times I think “it looks like there are at least three shots in there,” but then you poor, and there’s only one.

Random selection of spirits and wine.

Have you ever gone to purchase wine or liquor and thought with all these different bottles, one definitely has more in it than the other (see picture).  If you do, I think you are probably in good company. They look so different!  If you look at these and think that they are roughly the same size, pat yourself on the back, you are probably a volume genius.  That’s because according to the labels, all of them are 750 mL.  But I still can’t shake that feeling that really, they are not all 750 mL. 

My curiosity gets the best of me.  I start googling 750 mL and a few interesting things come up. For one, according to Villa Mattielli (link below), 750 mL was a legislated amount for any wine sold in Europe.  Why 750? Not known for sure, but it could be do to the ability of glass blowers to blow a particular volumed bottle.  It is also possible that it was an easy division of a larger standard receptacle’s volume.  In the US, there was a time when there was a push to move to the metric system.   A “fifth” (one gallon divided into five ) is approximately 750 mL.  Fascinating stuff, right?

So now I’m going down the google rabbit hole.  I look up spirits and why they are 750 mL.  I didn’t find out exactly what I was looking for, but what I did find shocked me, even though it really shouldn’t. There is a TREMENDOUS amount of regulation around alcohol.  AND, when you look at differences between countries/entities or specifically the US and the EU, it seems like there are some shenanigans going on. 

In order to be a whiskey of a particular class, it has to age three years in the EU, but in the US it has to be in new charred oak barrels, no minimum time.  Oh, and there is an exception for Canada, Ireland and Scotland (they sometimes use old bourbon barrels).  Then, there is also that in the 90’s the EU changed their sizes from 750 mL to 700 mL.  Which means that if you only have 750 mL bottles to sell, forget using EU countries as a market, and vice versa for EU to the US. Why would the change be made? The only reason I can think of is to keep the up and coming distiller from taking a dent out of the market because they don’t have the resources to make two types of bottle sizes, or at least not as easily as some of the more established distilleries.

This is all good information, but I still haven’t gotten to an answer.  Is it possible the label says one thing but the contents indicate another?   For wine at least, it seems like it’s in my head.  For a 750 mL bottle, the “fill” can be up to 2% off according to the regulations.  That, and with my heavy or light filling of a glass depending on the day, would explain the discrepancy in the number of glasses filled.  But, what about with the spirits? With contrasting regulations for different countries, I wonder if maybe a few shortcuts were made.  For instance, maybe one type of bottle was used, just filled to two different quantities and then different labels were slapped on.  Maybe we bought a 700 mL spirit by accident with a 750 mL label.  From what I could gather, it seems like the fine is only up to $500 for each incident.  If they aren’t checked that often, maybe it’s not a big deal or not worth the added effort of insuring the amount.

Needless to say, I’ll be keeping an eye on my beverages and my ear out for more info.  If you know anything, feel free to comment!

Last bit of interesting info.  I found out that if your kid wants to use alcohol for a science experiment they can get their permit through the TTB (Alcohol and Tobacco Trade and Tax Bureau) in the US.  Just in case you want the link: https://www.ttb.gov/webforms/contact_nrc.shtml

Other Sites and Resources Used:

https://www.ttb.gov/faqs/alcohol_faqs.shtml $500 fine for violation

https://www.villamattielli.it/eng/blog/notizie-e-curiosita/why-is-750ml-the-standard-wine-bottle-size#.XFh-nJNKjOQ

Why wine is 750 mL

http://www.scotchmaltwhisky.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?t=253 change from 750 mL to 700 mL in EU.

https://www.liveoakbank.com/wine-and-craft-beverage-resources/the-top-5-ttb-audit-questions-from-american-craft-distillers/
Tolerance for bottle fill.

http://adiforums.com/topic/2573-exporting-whiskey-to-eu/

Classifications of whiskey

http://www.iard.org/resources/beverage-alcohol-labeling-requirements/#european-union

International Alliance for Responsible Drinking

http://ec.europa.eu/DocsRoom/documents/6559/attachments/1/translations/en/renditions/native

Standard sizes and differences