Whereas it isn't really necessary to have any knowledge of wine bottles in order to appreciate wine, the bottles are vitally important. A glass bottle, sealed with a cork or other device, is undoubtedly preferable for the storage and transport of wine than the alternatives, which once included wooden barrels, amphorae or even animal skins. Glass is inert, and together with the cork seal (putting aside the terrible problem of cork taint just for one moment) it provides an excellent environment for the long ageing that some wines demand. The coloring of the glass also aids, in a small way, in the protection of the wine from potentially damaging light, although of course there's no substitute for storing your wine in a cool, dark cellar.

As well as the traditional (in many cases, legally required) 750ml bottle (the standard size to be found on supermarket and wine merchants shelves), and the useful half-bottle (containing 375ml of wine), there are a number of legally permitted 'large format' bottles. Many of these are named after biblical kings (I've never found out why that is). Most confusingly, however, the same name may be used to refer to different size glass bottles in different regions of France. Here are the large format bottling commonly referred to.

Other regions of France, Europe, and the New World also bottle some wine in large formats, particularly magnums. For larger bottling, most tend to follow the Burgundy terminology, and consequently some Jéroboams (four bottles) may be found. The Bordeaux terminology seems quite restricted to that region alone. Large format bottles are popular with Bordeaux collectors, particularly the eight-bottle Impériale. This is because the small amount of air in the bottle (between the cork and the wine) and a large amount of wine results in a small air: wine ratio and this would seem to favor slow development of the wine when compared with smaller formats. The same cannot be said of large format bottles of Champagne, as these are really only for show, and in general, other than the commonly encountered magnums, they are filled using wine poured from single 750ml bottles prior to sale.

There are a few other beverage glass bottle sizes permitted, although none have individual names, unlike the formats above. The only other commonly encountered size is the 500ml bottle, used for some Ports designed for drinking young, and Tokay, the famous sweet wine of Hungary.