From the spectacular Salmanazar and the gargantuan Goliath to the monstrous Melchizedek, the world’s largest Champagne bottles are truly huge and make for a fantastic party! And when it comes to the question of the biggest bottle of Champagne ever, the contenders are colossal.
Today, this world-famous sparkling wine can only be called Champagne if it comes from the Champagne region of northeastern France. The biggest brands – Taittinger, Krug, Veuve Clicquot, Moet & Chandon, Dom Perignon and Bollinger – sell millions of standard bottles every year, but how big is the largest Champagne bottle in the world?
Champagne Bottle Sizes - Standard to Melchizedek
Bottle of champagne (Photo: Martin Poole via Getty Images)
The naming convention of Champagne bottles – known as nomenclature – is fascinating. Many of the large format bottles have biblical names, although it appears there’s no definitive answer as to why. Here’s the list of champagne bottle sizes, from the smallest to the world’s biggest Champagne bottle.
Standard
Size: 0.75 litres | Equivalent: 1 bottle | Glasses: Approx. 6
The size of a standard bottle of Champagne.
Magnum
Size: 1.5 litres | Equivalent: 2 bottles | Glasses: Approx. 12
The word magnum is Latin for ‘great.’
Jeroboam
Size: 3 litres | Equivalent: 4 bottles | Glasses: Approx. 24
Jeroboam was the first king of the northern Kingdom of Israel who reigned from around 931 BC – 910 BC.
Rehoboam
Size: 4.5 litres | Equivalent: 6 bottles | Glasses: Approx. 36
The first monarch of the Kingdom of Judah who was believed to have had almost 90 children. The Latin translation of Rehoboam means ‘an enlarged people’. Perhaps that’s why his name is given to a contender for the world’s biggest Champagne bottle.
Methuselah
Size: 6 litres | Equivalent: 8 bottles | Glasses: Approx. 48
The grandfather of Noah, Methuselah was a biblical patriarch who is said to have lived until the age of 969.
Salmanazar
Size: 9 litres | Equivalent: 12 bottles | Glasses: Approx. 72
Often spelled Shalmaneser, he was an Assyrian king who reigned in the seventh century BC.
Balthazar
Size: 12 litres | Equivalent: 16 bottles | Glasses: Approx. 96
Balthazar is believed to have been one of the three magi, or wise men, who visited Jesus and gave the gift of myrrh. It has been suggested that the precious gift is somehow synonymous with the luxury of Champange and it may be why his name is associated with one of the biggest bottles of Champagne in the world.
Nebuchadnezzar
Size: 15 litres | Equivalent: 20 bottles | Glasses: Approx. 120
Regarded as the Neo-Babylonian Empire’s greatest king, he was one of the world’s most powerful rulers during his reign and legend states he built the Hanging Gardens of Babylon for his wife Amytis.
Melchior
Size: 18 litres | Equivalent: 24 bottles | Glasses: Approx. 144
Melchior was a Persian scholar and another of the three wise men believed to have visited the baby Jesus with the gift of gold. Like Balthazar’s gift, it’s possible that gold is synonymous with Champagne as a luxury, hence the name.
Solomon
Size: 20 litres | Equivalent: 26 bottles | Glasses: Approx. 156
Solomon was a king of Israel and the son of David. He was succeeded by Rehoboam around 931 BC.
Sovereign
Size: 26.25 litres | Equivalent: 35 bottles | Glasses: Approx. 210
The Sovereign may not be the world’s largest Champagne bottle but it’s very close. It is one of the only bottles not named after a character from the bible. It was reportedly created by the Taittinger Champagne house in the late 1980s specifically for the launch of the Sovereign of the Seas, at the time the world’s largest cruise liner.
Primat/Goliath
Size: 27 litres | Equivalent: 36 bottles | Glasses: Approx. 216
The second biggest Champagne bottle, the Primat – Latin for chief – is sometimes called the Goliath, named for the biblical Philistine giant killed by David.
Melchizedek
Size: 30 litres | Equivalent: 40 bottles | Glasses: Approx. 240
The world’s biggest Champagne bottle is named after the biblical King of Salem whose name translates as ‘king of righteousness’. He is venerated in a number of the world’s major religions.
Winston Churchill & Champagne
Pol Roger Champagne (Photo: FRANCOIS NASCIMBENI via Getty Images)
The former British Prime Minister was a famous lover of Pol Roger Champagne. To take advantage of the kudos, the famous Champagne house made one-pint bottles, hailed by Churchill as the perfect size. He reportedly drank two bottles at lunch and one at dinner. The pint may not be the biggest Champagne bottle but it remains one of the most famous, and rare.
What is the Biggest Champagne Bottle ever made?
Champagne being poured (Photo: DNY59 via Getty Images)
Size: 117 litres | Equivalent: 156 bottles | Glasses: Approx. 936
The biggest bottle of Champagne ever wasn’t produced by Moet or Bollinger or Cristal or Krug. In fact, it was made in 1998 by a company called Demptos Glass in the small central Czech Republic town of Jihlava. It was 1.39 metres tall, 1.32 metres in circumference and had a spectacular capacity of 117 litres, the equivalent of 156 standard bottles of Champagne. To put it another way, around 936 glasses. That’s a lot of washing up! So there we have it, the biggest Champagne bottles in the world.
