Nebuchadnezzar at 120 ml — 125 glasses

Same pour, other bottles

Counting the 750 ml standard as one, a Magnum is two, a Burgundy Jeroboam four, a Rehoboam six, a Methuselah eight, a Salmanazar twelve, a Balthazar sixteen and a Nebuchadnezzar twenty. Only the 5-litre Bordeaux Jeroboam refuses to divide evenly, at six and two thirds — it descends from a different tradition.

How much goes in a glass

A restaurant glass is usually 125 to 175 ml, a tasting pour 50 to 100. Poured at 150 ml, a 750 ml standard bottle gives exactly five glasses; at 175 ml it gives four with 50 ml left. Note that this is the pour, not the glass — the glass itself is far larger, so the aromas have room to gather.

Big bottles age more slowly

The cork’s surface stays the same however large the bottle grows, while the wine inside multiplies. Less air per unit of wine means a Magnum and larger mature more slowly than a standard bottle — which is why wines meant for long keeping are bought in big formats.

Nearby pours

Same bottle, other pours

One name, two volumes

A Jeroboam holds three litres in Burgundy and Champagne but five in Bordeaux. To compound it, Bordeaux calls the three-litre bottle a Double Magnum, so one bottle answers to two names. That is why buying a large format means reading the litres, not the name.

How to read this

• Glasses = bottle volume ÷ the pour per glass.
• The large formats are multiples of the 750 ml standard.
• A Jeroboam is five litres in Bordeaux, three in Burgundy.
• The head count assumes two glasses each.