What is in a name???? A whole lot if you share it with Biblical kings. Glass wine bottles come in a variety of sizes but did you know that many of those bottles have names of Biblical kings? That is right…famous kings like Jeroboam, Rehoboam, Methuselah, Salmanazar, Balthazar and Nebuchadnezzar share their names with glass bottles which contain fine wines and Champagnes. Standard wine bottles usually are 750 milliliters in size. The information below, however, explains the sizes of the bottles that carry the name of the Biblical kings.

• Jeroboam (first king of the northern kingdom of Israel) = 3 litters or 4 standard bottles
• Rehobam (first king of Judea) = 4.5 liters or 6 standard bottles
• Methuselah (the oldest man in the Bible) = 6 liters or 8 standard bottles
• Salmanazar (king of Assyria) – 9 liters or 12 standard bottles
• Balthazar (one of the Three Wise Men) = 12 liters or 16 standard bottles
• Nebuchadnezzr (king of Babylon) = 15 liters or 20 standard bottles

A mneumonic to help you remember the names in order is….“My Judy Really Makes Splendid Belching Noises.” The M in My is for Magnum.

Wine bottles also carry other Biblical names like Solomon and Mordechai. How bottles started to get these Biblical names is really not clear today. The earliest use of biblical names for large bottles comes from 1725 where winemakers in Bordeaux were using the name Jeroboam for the four-bottle size. It is believed that they chose Jeroboam because he is referred to as “a man of great worth,” as were the larger size bottles.

In doing some research I’ve read  that it is no longer legal to use the Biblical names on the bottles of large wine. I cannot confirm or deny this. It states that the only name that is still okay to use (which isn’t Biblical) is Magnum which is a bottle that holds two standard bottles of wine. What I can say is that if you are lucky enough to find one of the Biblically named bottles I say snap it up. I would think that one day it may be worth a pretty penny.

Below please find a picture of the world’s largest bottle which is said to contain six and a half Nebuchadnezzars (130 bottles). This sherry bottle measures 1.5 meters and holds 220 pounds of wine.