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Bottles

A bottle is a small container with a neck that is narrower than the body and a "mouth." Bottles are often made of glass, plastic or aluminum, and typically used to store liquids. e.g. more...

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water, milk, soft drinks, beer, wine, cooking oil (for both cooking and as fuel), medicine, liquid soap, shampoo, ink, etc.

For some bottles a deposit is paid, which is returned after returning the bottle to the retailer. For other glass bottles there is often separate garbage collection for recycling.

A device used to close the mouth of a bottle is called a bottle cap (external), or stopper (internal). A bottle can also be sealed using induction sealing .

Use for wine

The glass bottle was an important development in the history of wine, because, when combined with a high-quality stopper such as a cork, it allowed long-term aging of wine. Glass has all qualities required for long-term storage (see related article). It also eventually gave rise to "château bottling," the practice where an estate's wine is put in bottle at the source, rather than by a merchant. Prior to this, wine would be sold by the barrel (and before that, the amphora) and put into bottles only at the merchant's shop, if at all. This left a huge and often abused opportunity for fraud and adulteration, as the final consumer had to trust the merchant as to the contents of his or her glass. It is thought that most wine consumed outside of wine-producing regions had been tampered with in some way. Also, not all merchants were especially careful to avoid oxidation or contamination while bottling, leading to large bottle variation. Particularly in the case of port, certain conscientious merchants' bottling of old ports fetch higher prices even today. To avoid all these associated problems, most fine wine is bottled at the place of production (including all port, since 1974).

There are many sizes and shapes of bottles used for wine. Some of the best known shapes:

"Bordeaux" - This bottle is roughly straight sided with a curved "shoulder" that is useful for catching sediment and is also the easiest to stack. Traditionally used in Bordeaux but now worldwide, this is probably the most common type.; "Burgundy" - Traditionally used in Burgundy, this has sides that taper down about 2/3rds of the height to a short cylindrical section, and does not have a shoulder.; "Champagne" - Traditionally used for Champagne, this looks similar to a Burgundy bottle but is wider at the base. Much heavier because of the pressure it must contain.;

Codd-neck bottles

In 1872, British soft drink maker Hiram Codd of Camberwell, south east London, designed and patented a bottle designed specifically for carbonated drinks. The Codd-neck bottle, as it was called, was designed and manufactured to enclose a marble and a rubber washer/gasket in the neck. The bottles were filled upside down, and pressure of the gas in the bottle forced the marble against the washer, sealing in the carbonation. The bottle was pinched into a special shape, as can be seen in the photo at right, to provide a chamber into which the marble was pushed to open the bottle. This prevented the marble from blocking the neck as the drink was poured