72cl Wine Bottles

I recently purchased a bottle of 1978 Brovia Barbera d’Alba. When I got home, I went to scan the bottle into CellarTracker, and immediately noticed something that I found shocking while looking at the label. The bottle is marked as 72cl, which is something that I’ve never seen before on any bottle of wine.

I spent some time Google searching the subject, and wasn’t able to get a straight answer. The only takeaway I found was that the UK prior to joining the EU had laws stating the contents of a bottle had to be no less than what was advertised or it was a serious offense. In order to protect themselves, producers would advertise their bottles in the UK market as having a little less than 750ml to avoid penalties, though the bottle itself and the contents was no smaller than what would be sold and marketed in other countries as 75cl. While researching this subject the few examples I was able to find were for bottles that are 73cl not 72cl, and I’m more interested in the latter. I’m not sure if the rationale behind the 2 sizes is the same or not. For reference, I’m posting a photo of the bottle, and also a photo of a modern day bottle of similar shape next to it. The bottle does in fact seem smaller than any of the traditional 750ml bottles I’ve seen (I put it side by side with handfuls of bottles in my collection). If this is the case it would negate my aforementioned findings.

While researching the topic the vast majority of the bottles I found online which are 72cl’s appear to be wines from Piedmont from the 1960’s and 1970’s. I’m assuming this isn’t a coincidence, I just can’t get a straight answer as to why this is the case.

I’m interested as to why this wine was bottled as 72cl rather than the modern day standard size of 750ml? Was this common for this time period, and if so why did they switch to 750ml? Was this common only for wines which came out of Piedmont? Any insight at all would be extremely helpful, and greatly appreciated.

If anyone familiar with this topic, please share your knowledge, I’m genuinely interested, and there is virtually nothing written on this topic that I could find online.
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It was a standard size back then for Piedmont. The EU then standardized all bottles.

Thanks for info! Do you know if this was exclusive to Piedmont or was it all of Italy?

Also, by chance do you know if the bottle itself was specifically designed to only accommodate 72cl, or was it just advertised as 72cl for consumer protection purposes due to some variability when filling bottles?

Just curious to learn more on the topic.

Not only were there 72cl bottles, but I can also remember drinking some 70cl bottles as well. As you say though, this is all pre EU. I even have a 1975 Cantemerle label at 73cl, but am struggling to upload the photo from my iPad.

Different wine regions had different volumes. Germany was known for the 700ml. More tradition than anything else.

I think I recall 70cl (in U.K.) Hock and Mosel. I was mainly buying from OW Loeb (those were the days as they say).

I don’t know about the whole of the Veneto, but I know Quintarelli bottled 72cl bottles at least as late as 1975. In Valtellina Pelizzatti 1974 was 72cl as well. In the piedmont it was definitely not standard during the 1960s and 70s, but varied between producers. 1967 Cavallotto Barolo was already in 750ml bottles, more than a decade ahead of your Brovia and they are just down the road from each other!

Interesting about the 1972 Quintarelli. I’ve had several 1950s and 1960s Barolos and a Gattinara that came in 720ml bottles, but don’t recall seeing anything in that size from the 1970s.

Although it’s rare to find any 700ml German bottles after 1976, Weingut Hupfeld used 700ml bottles as late as 1983.

Check out a Chambers list of back vintage Piedmont wines sometimes. The large format sizes can get really funky.