The indent allows the bottles to be safely stacked with the neck of one resting on the indent of the bottle below. As I understand, early bottles were blown with slightly rounded bases which made them unstable, so a rod would be inserted while the glass was soft and the base pulled upwards to form the indent or 'kick'. This gave a more stable base to the bottle.
Wine bottles for still wine most certainly do have an indent, especially those in the "Burgundy" shape, and particularly in those containing the more expensive wines. My son developed a theory that if in doubt at the off licence, feel a few bottoms.
Secondly, champagne plus fizzy wine with aspirations isn't stacked upside down "with the neck of one nesting on the indent of the bottle below" but placed neck first in a set of holes made in a wooden board about 6ft x 4ft. Starting at the horizontal, each bottle is given a 15 degree twist and slight upward tilt each day, until as close to vertical as possible.
The sediment spirals down the bottle to the neck for degorgement. I agree with Mr Shaw that strength would be a reason for fizzy wine, but that still leaves us wondering why the bottles for still wines have the indents. Stephen Hill, Hobbs Pavilion Restaurant, Cambridge One reason I heard was that it provides a place for light to "sparkle" - and therefore show off the colour of the wine nicely. And while all sparkling wines as far as I know have indents, not all still wines even some fairly decent ones do - although most do.
Benjy Arnold, London, UK Wine bottles used to be individually blown and hence were spherical, somewhat like Chianti bottles. The more stable, straight-sided bottles were produced with the aid of an iron rod pressed into the bottom of the bottle while the glass was still workable, leaving this indentation.
The iron rod was called a "punto" and so the indentation it made while rolling the bottle became know as the "punt". Bill Watson, Chorlton, Manchester Many wines continue to develop in the bottle and this process produces sediments.
These fall to the bottom of the bottle over time and form a layer. With a flat- bottomed bottle, when the wine is poured, this layer is easily disturbed and the poured wine ends up cloudy, spoiling its appearance and sometimes its taste. Having an indent in the bottom means that the sediment is deeper, with a smaller surface area, thus easier to avoid disturbing. This also provides an explanation as to why Stephen Hill's son noticed the connection with more expensive wines.
Most cheaper wines are filtered or whirled in a centrifuge before bottling, avoiding sediment and thus the need for the more expensive punt-bottomed bottles. Many wine buffs consider that wine only achieves its full complexity if allowed to develop without filtering. Nigel Duncan, London SW20 A cousin of mine who worked briefly in a champagne bar told me that the dent was to accommodate the pourer's thumb, with the fore- and middle fingers placed underneath the bottle, so that a minimum of body heat was transferred to the bottle while pouring.
I would rather believe that it was to withstand the high pressure inside the unopened bottle having an arched, rather than flat, surface , whilst allowing the bottle to stand on a flat surface. Tim Waterfield, Montreal Canada The indentation, at least for white wine, increases the internal surface area of the bottle enabling faster chilling.
Jason Thompson, Newbiggin by the Sea That's what it's for, but what's it called? Well it's one of those things you didn't know had a name. It's called a "kick", or, less often these days, a "punt". Garrick Alder, London Additionally, it allows the marketing bods to shape a tall thus bigger looking bottle with the same width, but which actually has the same standard internal volume due to the dent in the bottom.
But, as the Riesling example above shows, this is far from a universal rule and would be a blunt instrument for anyone trying to measure quality. Is it more beneficial to store screwcapped bottles lying down or upright?
Why are concrete eggs beginning to be used in place of more conventional fermentation tanks? Christelle Guibert provides an eggs-planation Home Learn Advice. Credit: Mike Prior. Monks began wearing metal armor and chainmaille to prevent their demise by wine bottle, under they discovered that a bottle with a punt was less likely to shatter.
Another theory is that deceptive merchants could fool their customers into believing there was more liquid than what the bottle could actually hold if their patrons were unaware of the punt in the bottom.
This seems a good explanation before there were laws put in place to protect the customer. Now most wineries use standard bottles that hold ml so no matter if the bottle looks larger or smaller, the purchaser is guaranteed that much wine. When cleaning a bottle, the hot water is thoroughly dispersed by the punt to aid in a more complete sanitation. Glass can be slippery so having the punt in the bottom of the bottle gives the person pouring wine something to grip.
The punt also diverts any sediment down into the ring along the base of the bottle.
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