What's up with the 100 ml German bottles?

[Eric Ifune]

I just saw some 100 ml bottles of Gunderloch 2004 Eiswein and 2004 Nackenheimer Rothenberg Auslese Gold Cap for sale. These were tall conical dark bottles with waxed capsules. They reminded me of those fancy grappa bottles where packaging was more important than the contents. Has anyone else seen these? I'm sorta surprised that Gunderloch would do this.

[Robin Garr]

I just saw some 100 ml bottles of Gunderloch 2004 Eiswein and 2004 Nackenheimer Rothenberg Auslese Gold Cap for sale. These were tall conical dark bottles with waxed capsules. They reminded me of those fancy grappa bottles where packaging was more important than the contents. Has anyone else seen these? I'm sorta surprised that Gunderloch would do this.

Haven't seen or heard of 'em, Eric, but I'm just wondering how tall a 100 ml bottle could be! That's such a small amount, simple math suggests that if it's a "tall" bottle, it must be the diameter of a pencil.

[Hoke]

Although I'd happily do without those irritating waxed capsules, Eric, I don't think the advent of smaller bottles of such things is all that bad an idea.

I mean the small, sampler-sized bottles, not the ones that are designed to go into curio cabinets or on knicknack shelves for display, forever remaining unopened.

When I went to western Canada some years ago I noticed that most liquor stores had lots of 50ml bottles, individually boxed, of Ice Wines, ranging in price from about $7 to $15Canadian.

I inquired about them and was told the original impetus was to capture a lot of the Japanese gift trade (it's traditional for Japanese tourists to bring back tons of gifts for folks back home). The bottles were an immediate success (even though some producers thought they were a PITA, they did them anyway because they couldn't ignore the sales).

Turned out, lots of people liked them because they were able to have a small sample of something they might not ordinarily buy in a 750ml bottle.

I thought for years that smart producers of specialty/dessert wines would be smart to develop smaller sizes. How many more people would purchase such wines if they were more readily available? I think quite a few.

When I was selling Castello di Brolio wines, they had a marvellous Vin Santo...but my company was bringing it in only in 750mls, and it was soooo difficult to sell. When we begged and pleaded for 357mls, the sales immediately and dramatically improved. If we had had an even smaller bottle, I suspect the retail sales would have improved even more. And more people would have been exposed to the wine. Which is a good thing.

[Eric Ifune]

Haven't seen or heard of 'em, Eric, but I'm just wondering how tall a 100 ml bottle could be! That's such a small amount, simple math suggests that if it's a "tall" bottle, it must be the diameter of a pencil.

Without having one in front of me, I'd estimate it was about 1.5 inches in diameter at the base tapering to about 0.3 inches at the top and about 9 inches tall. The glass seemed kinda heavy.

I thought for years that smart producers of specialty/dessert wines would be smart to develop smaller sizes. How many more people would purchase such wines if they were more readily available? I think quite a few.

I guess you're correct in this, but it does make it harder to share! 100 ml is barely a glass. I do have some of the Brolio Vin Santo and it is good.