# Why do some wine bottles have indented bottoms

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-some-wine-bottles-have-indented-bottoms/156721>\
**Category:** Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports\
**Created:** [February 22, 2003, 4:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-some-wine-bottles-have-indented-bottoms/156721 "2003-02-22T04:34:00Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![carver42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/bc8723/32.png) [@carver42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carver42)\
**Post date:** [February 22, 2003, 4:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-some-wine-bottles-have-indented-bottoms/156721/1 "2003-02-22T04:34:00Z")

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I have been at restaurants where “fancy” waiters pour wine with 3 fingers under the bottom of the bottle and their thumb in that dent. It looks elegant.

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**Author:** ![magog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/fbc32d/32.png) [@magog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/magog)\
**Post date:** [February 22, 2003, 4:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-some-wine-bottles-have-indented-bottoms/156721/2 "2003-02-22T04:53:58Z")

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[http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a990305b.html](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a990305b.html)

Another thing - the indentation makes it very easy to cork the bottles - the corker has purchase on the bottom of the bottle, so it doesn’t slide when the cork goes in.

Not that Cecil is wrong or anything like that.

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**Author:** ![Eddie\_the\_Dane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b5a626/32.png) [@Eddie\_the\_Dane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eddie_the_Dane)\
**Post date:** [February 25, 2003, 5:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-some-wine-bottles-have-indented-bottoms/156721/3 "2003-02-25T05:17:17Z")

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Cecil calls the dimple a “punt”, but IIRC the correct glassmaker terminology is “pontil”.

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**Author:** ![John\_W.Kennedy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_w.kennedy/32/1031_2.png) [@John\_W.Kennedy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_W.Kennedy)\
**Post date:** [February 25, 2003, 1:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-some-wine-bottles-have-indented-bottoms/156721/4 "2003-02-25T13:54:18Z")

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According to the Oxford English Dictionary, a pontil is a glass-making tool, and “punt” means the indentation, but also sometimes means “pontil”. It doesn’t say that “pontil” sometimes means “punt”.

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**Author:** ![cdhostage](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c6cbf5/32.png) [@cdhostage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cdhostage)\
**Post date:** [February 25, 2003, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-some-wine-bottles-have-indented-bottoms/156721/5 "2003-02-25T15:45:21Z")

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Righto! Wine bottles with contured bottoms are much easier to pour from.