I found a site that gives a scientific reason for the punt, call it a dimple
if you will, on the bottom of wine bottles.

--
Cyfarch Gwinllan Cwm Deri!

Casey

Well hell, it's early here on the Mojave.....

Try this: http://www.itchysquirrel.com/

C

"Casey Wilson" wrote in message
news:dY7Rh.11126$P84.1210@trnddc07...

I found a site that gives a scientific reason for the punt, call it a
dimple if you will, on the bottom of wine bottles.

--
Cyfarch Gwinllan Cwm Deri!

Casey

Sounds right to me. Now on to the Fiasco. You know what a fiasco is,
right? (No, not a disaster, the wine bottle with a round bottom.)
That's actually where the disaster term came from; the bottle design
is, well - dumb- and just asking for trouble. That's why they wrapped
wicker around them, to keep the bottle upright.

Before that came the amphora, which had a pointed bottom. You dug it
into sand or dirt. The things people go to to store wine...


Joe

On Apr 5, 10:36 pm, "Joe Sallustio" wrote:
Sounds right to me. Now on to the Fiasco. You know what a fiasco is,
right? (No, not a disaster, the wine bottle with a round bottom.)
That's actually where the disaster term came from; the bottle design
is, well - dumb- and just asking for trouble. That's why they wrapped
wicker around them, to keep the bottle upright.

Before that came the amphora, which had a pointed bottom. You dug it
into sand or dirt. The things people go to to store wine...

Joe

I love this thread - opinion in the absence of absolutes is often more
interesting to me than facts and absolutes themselves. Thanks for
those factoids Joe, I hadn't a clue about the derivation of 'fiasco'
and that's fascinating. Bizarre that the flat bottom wasn't
necessarily the first designed! I guess even a rounded or pointed
base to a rigid bottle was an improvement on the wineskin..?

I would have thought that it would be relatively easy to blow a bottle
with a flat base by simply grounding the bottle once blown and before
the glass cooled - but maybe not.

Thanks Casey too! It was refreshing to read the itchysquirrel piece
too. I like the way that humans seek validation for ideas by effort
alone when nothing else turns up to show them what is what! I wonder
what the ebay purchaser will do with his punt-measuring-rod? Just
goes to show doesn't it.

I assumed that the dimple was to allow the pouring technique commonly
deployed by waiters. However, since it requires a rather elegant and
contrived technique to properly accomplish (particularly when pouring
from a full bottle) it makes sense that this could be an adaptation to
form rather than a reason to make a bottle in this way.

Many thanks for an interesting read anyhoo...

Jim

I've heard from a number of sources that the punt was an artifact of
the way bottles were crated for shipment many years ago. This didn't
appear to be mentioned on the referenced site, however, the comment
about stacking sparkling wine may have been related.

Greg

On Apr 5, 7:46 am, "Casey Wilson" wrote:
Well hell, it's early here on the Mojave.....

Try this: http://www.itchysquirrel.com/

C

"Casey Wilson" wrote in message

news:dY7Rh.11126$P84.1210@trnddc07...





I found a site that gives a scientific reason for the punt, call it a
dimple if you will, on the bottom of wine bottles.

--
Cyfarch Gwinllan Cwm Deri!

Casey- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

Thanks muchly, fascinating research, truly. One question....do wines
really throw a new sediment just cus they are old? If bottled
brilliant (as one would hope top notch wines are) even if they threw a
sediment over ten years it would surely be almost immeasurable given
the fact the wine appeared brilliant at bottling, no?

Thanks muchly, fascinating research, truly. One question....do wines
really throw a new sediment just cus they are old? If bottled
brilliant (as one would hope top notch wines are) even if they threw a
sediment over ten years it would surely be almost immeasurable given
the fact the wine appeared brilliant at bottling, no?

I cannot for the life of me remember the brand but it was a Chianti or
Borolo that went for $40 or so back in the mid-60s. The restaurant was
Gaido's on the boulevard on Galveston Island, Texas. I remember the wine
steward pouring only four glasses to the table before emptying the dregs
into a fairly large goblet. He swirled it around to coat the inside of the
glass with the sediment from the bottom of the bottle and proudly handed it
to my Uncle. The wine as I recall was nothing special (at least to me) but I
remember the formalities as being a darn good show.
Yes, good wine will continue to deposit stuff in the bottom of the
bottle. Thunderbird doesn't stay in the bottle long enough.

Casey- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

Thanks muchly, fascinating research, truly. One question....do wines
really throw a new sediment just cus they are old? If bottled
brilliant (as one would hope top notch wines are) even if they threw a
sediment over ten years it would surely be almost immeasurable given
the fact the wine appeared brilliant at bottling, no?

Whites maybe
All the best reds (in Australia anyway) go nowhere near a filter.
The bottling plants use a plain screen or sieve.
As the winemakers say its only there to stop the occasional stray grape
picker or grapevine limb out of the bottle.

Anton

On Apr 6, 3:32 am, "anton" wrote:
Casey- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

Thanks muchly, fascinating research, truly. One question....do wines
really throw a new sediment just cus they are old? If bottled
brilliant (as one would hope top notch wines are) even if they threw a
sediment over ten years it would surely be almost immeasurable given
the fact the wine appeared brilliant at bottling, no?

Whites maybe
All the best reds (in Australia anyway) go nowhere near a filter.
The bottling plants use a plain screen or sieve.
As the winemakers say its only there to stop the occasional stray grape
picker or grapevine limb out of the bottle.

Anton



- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

Reds will throw a sediment regardless of the clarity once they get old
enough. No one in any old, established wine community (like Europe
for example) considers that a defect; they actually consider it a mark
of authenticity as to the age of a wine. It can be very fine, not
necessarily crystalline.

Joe