The vast majority of Champagne produced is done so in a 75cl bottle, this is known as the standard size and is the basis against which all the other Champagne bottle sizes are gauged. Here in the UK there are nine Champagne bottle sizes in circulation, although some producers do also produce Champagne in even more bottle sizes. Not all of the Champagne brands/producers are available in all sizes, however, the main household named brands do produce in 7,8 or 9 bottle sizes.
Piccolo Bottle
The Piccolo size is also known as a Quarter bottle and is therefore 18.75cl. This is a single glass size bottle and has become very popular to have at weddings for each guest and also to be drunk in nightclubs through a straw.
Demi Bottle
The Demi is also referred to as a Half Bottle and therefore contains 35.5cl of Champagne. This is becoming more and more popular due to its affordability and is produced by all the Champagne brands.
Standard / Regular Bottle
The standard Champagne bottle size is also known as a regular and contains 75cl. As a rule you should be able to get 6 regular sized glasses of Champagne out of a standard bottle.
Magnum Bottle
The first of the larger bottle sizes of Champagne is known as a Magnum and is 150cl (1.5 Litres). The Magnum of Champagne is the equivalent to two standard bottles. The history of the name Magnum comes from the latin for large – Magnus, and it is important to know it was called a Magnum long before we were introduced to Magnum PI – the 1980’s tv series!!
Jeroboam Bottle
A Jeroboam of Champagne or Jero as it is sometimes referred is a double Magnum and quickly gets us up to the 3 litre size, which is therefore 4 times the standard Champagne bottle size. The name Jeroboam has come from the history books and is the apparent name of the first King of the Northern Kingdom back in the time of King Solomon in 975BC. Most of the bottle size names are taken from these biblical times BC.
Methuselah Bottle
The Methuselah is the equivalent of 8 standard bottles which equates to 6 litres of Champagne or 48 glasses!!! The name Methuselah hails from longevity and again from biblical times. It is deemed that when Methuselah was 187 he fathered Lamech, he then went on to live to the ripe old age of 969 – now that must have been one hell of a cake! It is for this reason that Methuselah is tied in to longevity.
Salmanazar Bottle
A Salmanazar Champagne bottle size contains 9 litres which is the same as 12 regular bottles of enough to fill 72 standard Champagne flutes. Once more the name comes from historical times and the first Salmanazar was king of Assyria from 1274-1245BC. Salmanazar also has a couple of different spellings, although we have used the most common one. Can be spelt Salmanasar and Salamanzar.
Balthazar Bottle
Now we are up to very large bottle sizes. A Balthazar holds 12 litres of Champagne or 16 standard bottles or 96 glasses. History has us to believe that Balthazar was the King of Saba and one of the three wise men who worshipped baby Jesus. Balthazar gave the gift of Myrrh.
Nebuchadnezzar Bottle
This is the largest of all the mainstream bottle sizes produced and is a whopping 15 litres, 20 standard bottles or
enough to fill 120 Champagne flutes. Nebuchadnezzar Pronounced Nebu-ka-nezz-er it is thought the name originates from the King of Babylon who ruled from 605-562BC.
There are other Champagne bottle sizes made but in far fewer quantities and by far fewer producers but some of their names and sizes are Rehoboam 4.5 litres and fits in between the Jeroboam and Methuselah sizes, The remaining bottle sizes get bigger and bigger and come after the Nebuchadnezzar, a Melchior which is 18 litres in size, a Solomon (20 litres) a Sovereign (25 litres), a Primat (27 litres) and largest of all the Melchizedek which is 30 litres.