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From: gauchs@unc.UUCP (Susan E. Gauch)
Newsgroups: net.wines
Subject: Re: Wine bottle bottoms
Message-ID: <46@unc.unc.UUCP>
Date: Fri, 17-Oct-86 10:50:05 EDT
Article-I.D.: unc.46
Posted: Fri Oct 17 10:50:05 1986
Date-Received: Tue, 21-Oct-86 20:25:20 EDT
References: <93@ritcv.UUCP>
Reply-To: gauchs@unc.UUCP (Susan E. Gauch)
Organization: CS Dept, U. of N. Carolina, Chapel Hill
Lines: 20

>	Sorry if this has been brought up before, but I'm new to 
>net.wines. My question: does the depth of the indentation (dish?)
>on the bottom of a bottle of wine have anything to do with the 
>quality of the wine therein?

My understanding is that the punt (the indentation in the bottom of the
bottle) is there to collect the sediment thrown by the wine as it ages.
There may be some connection between the size of the punt, the
amount of sediment thrown by the wine (due to lots of sediment, or lots
of time necessary to age the wine), and the wine quality.

Certainly mass produced wines that are meant to be drunk 5 minutes after
you bring them home from the grocery store are unlikely to be around long
enough to throw any sediment.  For these wines, the punt is merely a matter
of style, and serves no practical purpose (except some people pour the wine
by holding the bottle by the punt).  I don't know why Champagne bottles
have such large punts, as they don't throw much sediment as a rule.
-- 
Susan Gauch
gauchs@unc	decvax!mcnc!unc!gauchs