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Wine tank

See under wine vessels.

Wine vessels for storing and enjoying wine are almost as old as the drink itself. Archaeological finds prove that glass production was first known to the Egyptians in the New Kingdom around 1500 BC. In addition to clay jugs, they also used glass bottles for wine. At this time, the Greeks and Romans still mainly used clay amphorae. However, the Romans were already using corks to seal these vessels. Bronze vessels were also common in antiquity; in 1952, a 1.64 metre high bronze cauldron was found in the grave of a Burgundian princess, which had been used to transport wine from Greece. Various vessels for storage or drinking vessels included kantharos, krater and oinochoe.

Weingefäße - Amphore, Krater (Crater), Oinochoe, Kantharos

Antiquity

In ancient Greece, hardly any wooden barrels were known for storing or transporting wine, but the historian Herodotus (482-425 B.C.) reports of such barrels made of palm wood in the city of Babylon. It is fairly certain that the Celts were already using wooden barrels for transport on a large scale around 600 BC and that the Greeks and Romans then adopted this skill. Julius Caesar (100-44 BC) first learnt about wooden barrels during his Gallic campaign around 50 BC and the Roman author Pliny the Elder (23-79 AD) described them as a vessel unknown to his contemporaries. It was only around this time that the Romans began to use wooden storage containers, mainly made of fir wood. Remains of wooden barrel-like containers were found in the city of Pompeii, which was destroyed by the eruption of Vesuvius in 79 AD. Wooden barrels were probably also used on a large scale for ship transport from the middle of the third century. From this point onwards, archaeological finds relating to wine shipments in the form of clay vessels such as amphorae or at least pottery shards in shipwrecks became increasingly rare. Probably the oldest wine bottle in the world with contents in the Historical Museum of the Palatinate in Speyer dates from the 4th century AD.

Modern times

Until the beginning of the 17th century, however, wine was almost always stored in wooden barrels, which, in addition to a lack of hygiene, could lead to secondary fermentation or spoilage after each opening. Then the use of glass and cork bottles led to an enormous improvement in quality. Wine was now much more durable, and it also continued to develop in the bottle. Nevertheless, bottling was the exception rather than the rule until well into the 20th century. When the EU wine market regulation came into force in 2009, there were also changes to the authorised wine containers.

Until then, quality wines could only be marketed in glass bottles, wooden barrels or sintered ceramic containers. In order to increase the competitiveness of EU countries compared to third countries, especially overseas, this provision was cancelled without replacement. Quality wine may now be bottled in a wide variety of containers, including bag-in-boxes, KeyKegs and Tetra Pak (cartons), without restriction. Stainless steel, glass, wood, concrete, granite, ceramic (earthenware) or plastic are the main materials used for the various containers for winemaking and storage. A new trend with sustainability in mind is to bottle wine in returnable beer bottles with crown corks.

Weingefäße - Barrique, Stückfass, Edelstahltank, Maische-Holztank

Installation of different containers

Today, fermentation tanks are usually made of stainless steel or concrete and can hold up to 30,000 litres. However, wooden barrels are also used for barrel fermentation. Stainless steel, ceramic or concrete tanks and oak barrels of various sizes are used for ageing. Cuvées are blended in particularly large stainless steel tanks of up to 1.5 million litres. Mass transport usually takes place in stainless steel tanks with a volume of 25,000 litres. Glass containers are only available in sizes up to around 65 litres and are used as an alternative to small wooden barrels.

Designation

Type/use

Type of use

Volume Litres

Eighth (Achterl) Drinking glass Austria 0,125
Albeisa Bottle Piedmont-Italy 0,75
Amper Vessel Weinviertel (Austria) different
Amphora transport container ancient countries different
Ampoule (ampoule) glass jar Penfolds Australia 0,75
Bag-in-box container many countries different
Balloon bottle container many countries 2 to 50 u. m.
Barrique barrel Container many countries 225
Basquaise bottle Gascony-France 0,75
Batilla (Batillen) Barrel Switzerland - Valais -
Mug (Haferl) Drinking vessel Germany, Austria about 0.25 litre
Bembel Vessel for cider Germany, France -
Concrete barrel (concrete egg) Tank...

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Dr. Christa Hanten

For my many years of work as an editor with a wine and culinary focus, I always like to inform myself about special questions at Wine lexicon. Spontaneous reading and following links often leads to exciting discoveries in the wide world of wine.

Dr. Christa Hanten
Fachjournalistin, Lektorin und Verkosterin, Wien

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