# Why does wine come in 750ml bottles? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 21, 2004, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-wine-come-in-750ml-bottles/225510 "2004-01-21T20:57:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Wallenstein](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/b5a626/32.png) [@Wallenstein](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wallenstein)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2004, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-wine-come-in-750ml-bottles/225510/1 "2004-01-21T20:57:21Z")
Why do the vast majority of wine bottles contain 75ml of wine? Is there a historical reason for this (perhaps it’s related to the size of a flagon or summat?), or is it to do with tax/duty levied on amounts over 750ml? Anyone got the scoop? Thanks loads! – e-logic ---
**Author:** ![Q.E.D](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/51bf81/32.png) [@Q.E.D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.E.D)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2004, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-wine-come-in-750ml-bottles/225510/2 "2004-01-21T21:05:19Z")
[Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Wine Bottles, But Were Too Drunk to Ask!](http://www.texaswinetrails.com/bottles.htm) > [@](#): > > Today, the standard wine bottle is 750 ml, established by the United States in the late 1970s as we planned to ‘go-metric’! Most other countries have adopted that standard to be able to sell wine in the States. The shape of wine bottles varies considerably, but a handful of shapes dominate the marketplace. There doesn’t seem to be any particular reason for the 750 ml size, other than one of convenience. ---
**Author:** ![Gary\_T](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/3ec8ea/32.png) [@Gary\_T](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_T)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2004, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-wine-come-in-750ml-bottles/225510/3 "2004-01-21T21:29:46Z")
750 ml was chosen because it’s very close to a fifth of a U.S. gallon, which is 757 ml. Before the change, the fifth was a common bottle size for wine and liquor. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2004, 1:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-wine-come-in-750ml-bottles/225510/4 "2004-01-22T01:21:29Z")
[Aside] I worked for a duty-free company where 75cl and litre bottles of the same products (wines, spirits and liqueuers) were stocked - ‘bottle’ is the industry standard term for the 75cl measure. ---
**Author:** ![scm1001](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c4cdca/32.png) [@scm1001](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scm1001)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2004, 12:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-wine-come-in-750ml-bottles/225510/5 "2004-01-22T12:08:27Z")
because its just the right amount to get me plonked for the evening