[question] Question submitted by: Tay Hang Chua, Singapore Is it true that the depth of the caving in at the base of the wine bottle is related to the value of the wine, ie the deeper the caving in, the more valuable the wine is? [/question] [answer] It’s funny how fashion evolves out of a practical purpose. The caving you are talking about is called the punt. And, as far as I am aware, the manufacture of the punt in wine bottles began for Champagne. In the early days of making Champagne bottles, the punt was invented as a means of preventing the bottom of a bottle from exploding out because of the internal gas pressure of around six atmospheres developed during the secondary fermentation. The punt shape provided the strength and stability to ensure that Champagne could be bought, sold and enjoyed without risk to life or limb. The notion of serving a bottle of Dom, only for it to explode all over the room, is not a happy one. Modern glass is strong enough not to require a punt, even for bottles of sparkling wine. The punt still comes in handy for those companies that like to create large stacks of maturing bottles of wine, including most Champagne houses, since it gives the stack more stability and internal strength. There is but a single reason why we see punted bottles today: fashion. Punts apparently make bottles feel better, look better and more exclusive. The bigger the punt, the bigger the effect. It’s sort of like an old-fashioned male thing, but in reverse. But herein lies a warning: don’t be fooled by fancy packaging. Some of the bottles sent to me are so heavy you could be fooled for thinking they contained twice what they do. Some are so tall they protrude several inches beyond most of the bottles in a rack. Many bottles are awkward to stack, difficult to open and require the strength of Hercules to pour from. You have to ask yourself why a company would choose to make such a statement. In many cases, far too many in reality, fancy large bottles (many of which have extreme punts) are used to make ordinary wine look good. Don’t be fooled by this, and make your buying decisions instead based on your opinion of the wine inside the bottle, or that of someone you trust. Punts can also be useful for those people who like pouring a bottle of wine with a thumb inserted up the punt to provide some level of grip on the bottle. In my opinion this is rather affected behaviour, since if pouring from the bottle it is generally quite important to be able to twist the bottle immediately after the serve is poured to prevent a drip from falling from the bottle and onto the table. It’s virtually impossible to do that if using the thumb-up-the-punt method, which I largely see being deployed by wine waiters who are a long way short of sommelier status. And any sommelier doing this should simply know better! [/answer]
