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From: pae@Shasta.UUCP
Newsgroups: net.wines
Subject: Re: Italian wine bottles
Message-ID: <900@Shasta.STANFORD.EDU>
Date: Fri, 10-Oct-86 14:37:39 EDT
Article-I.D.: Shasta.900
Posted: Fri Oct 10 14:37:39 1986
Date-Received: Sun, 12-Oct-86 05:43:57 EDT
References: <31400001@uicsrd>
Reply-To: pae@Shasta.UUCP (Peter Eichenberger)
Organization: Stanford University
Lines: 11

>Some friends and I were in an Italian restaurant recently and got to
>talking about the wine bottles with the woven basket attached to the
>bottom.  Does anybody out here know of any reason for the basket other
>than aesthetic?  Maybe a historic significance.

Yes, there is a reason:  If you removed the basket, you would quickly
discover that the bottom of the bottle is round and will not stand up
on its own.  The bottles are called fiasci (sp?) (this is the origin
of the word fiasco) and, I believe, have traditionally been used to 
bottle some of the lighter Chianti's.  I have heard that they are
becomming increasingly rare (probably due to cost).