While it’s pretty impressive to have a wine cellar at home, nothing beats owning an entire barrel of wine. After all, buying by barrel comes with perks: you can be as involved as you want, from crushing to bottling. Or you can simply pick your blend or varietal, hand the reigns over to the winemaker, and receive regular updates. The best part? The many bottles you end up with.
But, how many bottles exactly can be filled with a barrel of wine?
Barrel Size
The size of a barrel of wine depends on several factors that the manufacturer takes into consideration. For instance, a small oak barrel is used to make a wine with a unique oak taste.
On average, most barrels hold 200 L to 650 L of wine. This is equivalent to 53-172 gallons.
Four Main Bottle Sizes
To determine how many bottles are there in a barrel of wine, it’s essential to know the different wine bottle sizes.
The most common bottle size is 750 mL. But the smallest size is a one-half bottle which can hold 375 mL of wine. The additional wine bottles that can be found in wineries and restaurants are magnum which can hold 1.5 L or two bottles of wine; jeroboam, which can have 3 L of wine; and the biggest size, rehoboam, which can hold 4.5 L of wine.
The 750 mL bottle is the standard size because the majority of people drink that much wine in a few month period. The one-half bottle size is ideal for trying out a new blend as it’s the perfect size for wine tasting. Additionally, the largest bottles, jeroboam and rehoboam, are best for the consumption of a large number of people at parties and gatherings. It is said that wine ages better in these bottle sizes. These sizes are also ideal for wines that you plan to drink in the foreseeable future.
Calculation
Suppose there are 5 regular 350 L barrels. We’ll run you through the math of how many bottles can be filled with each size.
- For 375 mL wine bottles: 350 / 0.375 = 933.333
- For 750 mL wine bottles: 350 / 0.750 = 466.666
- For 1.5 L wine bottles: 350 / 1.5 = 233.333
- For 3 L wine bottles: 350 / 3 = 116.666
- For 4.5 L wine bottles: 350 / 4.5 = 77.777
As you can see, a barrel of wine can fill up 933 and a third small bottles. For 750 mL bottles, you can get 466 and a half bottles. For magnum bottles, you can get 233 full ones, and one filled one third. Then finally, you can get 116 and a half jeroboam bottles and almost 78 rehoboam bottles.
If you think about it, these are insane amounts of wine. Therefore, a barrel of wine can hold a lot more than expected. If you buy wine by barrel, it’s imperative that your wine cellar is large enough to store all these wine bottles.