It’s human nature. Make something a standard size and before you know it someone has made it bigger (or smaller). Nowhere is this more apparent than in the world of wine, where bottle sizes range from just the right amount for one to large enough for a party.

While there is no denying that large format bottles, as they’re called, are great conversation starters, they also serve a purpose. Big bottles allow the wine to age longer since a smaller percentage of the wine is exposed to the elements that are able to penetrate the cork and glass. Thinking about buying a special bottle to put away, perhaps the year a child was born or you said your wedding vows? Consider a large format bottle. A winery or a good local wine store will be able to help, and maybe they can have a bottle signed by the winemaker or winery owner to make it even more memorable. Either way, signed or not, you’ll have a conversation piece that only gets better with age.

Half-Bottle or Split
It contains 375 milliliters of wine, which is half of the standard bottle size.

Bottle
The standard bottle, holding 750 milliliters of wine.

Magnum
At 1.5 liters it’s twice the standard bottle size.

Double Magnum
Easy enough to figure out, it’s 3.0 liters or the equivalent of four standard bottles.

Jeroboam
Just to complicate things, there are two sizes of Jeroboams. The one for sparkling wine is equal to four standard bottles, or 3.0 liters; the red wine Jeroboam equals 6 regular bottles, or 4.5 liters. And if that were not complicated enough there are some 5.0 liter Jeroboams in existence.

Imperial
Eight standard bottles equaling
6.0 liters.

Methuselah
This bottle is the same size as an Imperial but is usually used for sparkling wines and is shaped like a Burgundy bottle, with more rounded sides and a sloping neck.

Salmanazar
For one-stop shopping this bottle holds the equivalent of a standard case (9.0 liters) of wine.

Balthazar
Usually used for sparkling wines, this bottle contains 12.0 liters, which amounts to 16 bottles.

Nebuchadnezzar
At 15.0 liters (20 standard bottles) the Nebuchadnezzar is most often found with a sparkling wine label, but some red wines use it as well.