Wine bottles come in different sizes, with some being smaller and some larger than others. When it comes to your standard wine bottle, it tends to be around 12 inches high (long) and anywhere from 3 to 3.2 inches in diameter. Some bottles are smaller than others, and it usually depends on the kind of wine or the brand name of the wine. That being said, some bottles like those for champagne tend to be a little larger, closer to 12.5 inches tall and 3.5 inches in diameter.
Whatever the case may be, the fact of the matter is that wine bottles vary in size, which can make fitting them in wine racks and wine refrigerators a bit of a challenge. Not all wine bottles will fit in the racks of all wine refrigerators. In terms of determining the dimension of a wine bottle and wine refrigerators, you need to know what you are getting so you can get the proper storage options.
It is no fun when you bring home a bottle of wine to realize that it won’t fit in the rack or wine fridge you have. Let’s take a closer look at some of the different wine bottle sizes and what kind of storage options work best for these bottles. Keep in mind that we are not covering every single wine bottle size out there, but instead we are sticking with the most common ones, the industry standards.
Piccolo or Split
The Piccolo bottle is most often used for champagne, but it has also been known to be used for some wines. This bottle holds 187.5 ml of liquid and comes in at 7 inches long and 2 to 2.5 inches in diameter; in other words, it is about ¼ of a regular wine bottle. In all reality, using these bottles for wine is not a good idea because there is a lot of contact between oxygen and the wine.
The more oxygen that is in contact with the wine, the worse the quality of it will become over time. It’s not a great way to age wines, but it makes for a good little celebration bottle. Retailers tend to like the Piccolo bottle, so people can taste certain wines before deciding whether or not to buy a full bottle. You will need to get racks or fridges with special inserts for these smaller bottles, as they won’t fit too well in standard sized racks.
Demi Or Half
The demi, or half bottle is about half the size of a normal wine bottle, as the name implies. This type of bottle can hold 375 ml of wine and comes in at 9.5 inches long by 2.25 inches in diameter. This is the equivalent of about 2 glasses of wine. It’s a good option when 2 people want some wine, but not a full bottle. It’s also a good option for vineyards who want to promote products.
What is interesting is that these half bottles usually are not much cheaper than full sized ones. The demi bottle is popular among winemakers and restaurateurs because it allows for tasting without opening a full bottle. One thing that needs to be said is that half wine bottles also have fairly high oxygen contact rate with the wine, thus not being so great for the aging process. These will usually fit into a standard wine rack, but their small size means that you are taking up a slot where you could be storing a full-size bottle.
Standard
The standard wine bottle is the one that you are going to see in your local liquor stores for the most part. This is the normal size of a wine bottle that can hold 750 ml of wine. It comes anywhere from 11.5 to 13 inches in length and 3 to 3 3/8 inches in diameter. This is the bottle that most people are going to buy as it makes for a good size.
You should get about 4 glasses of wine out of a standard bottle, making it a good choice for dinner parties and for restaurants who move quite a bit of wine. Pretty much any wine fridge or wine rack will be able to fit these standard bottles. Simply put, most racks and fridges are built with the expectation that most people usually purchase standard-size wine bottles.
Magnum
This bottle of wine is a big bottle, twice the size of a standard bottle. The magnum can hold 1.5 liters of wine or about 8 glasses. For this reason, it is often a popular choice for dinner parties with 3 or 4 people. The magnum comes in at 13.5 inches in length by 4 to 4.5 inches in diameter. People who like fine wines tend to like this kind of bottle because of the minimal amount of ullage, which means that there is not much oxygen contact with the wine.
This is essential for the good aging of fine wine. People like magnum bottles because they look fancy. One thing to keep in mind here is that you will need special wine racks or wine fridge inserts to fit these bottles. They will not fit in a wine rack or fridge meant for standard-size bottles.
Double Magnum
As you can probably guess from the name, the double magnum wine bottle is twice the size of the magnum and 4 times the size of a standard wine bottle. The double magnum holds 3 liters of wine, making it a prime choice for dinner parties. You definitely will not be able to fit the double magnum in any kind of standard size wine rack or wine refrigerator.
These bottles take up a lot of room and need special accommodations; they can be anywhere from 14 to 15.5 inches in height and 4.5 to 5.5 inches in diameter, so you will need to make the right storage choice here.
Conclusion
While there are some larger bottles than the ones we have discussed, they are very rare and not often found. If you can find them, be prepared to pay a pretty penny for them as they are certainly not cheap. At any rate, just keep in mind the dimensions of normal wine bottles are, and what you will need to do to store them adequately.