WEBVTT - Why Do Wine Bottles Have Dents in the Bottom?

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<v Speaker 1>Welcome to Brainstuff, a production of iHeartRadio. Hey Brainstuff. Floren

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<v Speaker 1>Vogel Bomb here. If you've ever picked up a wine bottle,

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<v Speaker 1>you may have noticed a pretty distinctive feature, a big

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<v Speaker 1>dent in the bottom. The technical term for the dent

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<v Speaker 1>is punt, and given that winemaking and bottling traditions go

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<v Speaker 1>back centuries or even millennia, surely this dent has been

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<v Speaker 1>there since time immemorial to serve some specific and scientific

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<v Speaker 1>purpose or not. There's no real consensus on why the

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<v Speaker 1>punt is there, but it does have a number of

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<v Speaker 1>practical uses, so no matter why glassblowers started putting punts

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<v Speaker 1>and bottles, they've stuck around. The first and maybe most

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<v Speaker 1>plausible reason for putting an indentation in the base of

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<v Speaker 1>a wine bottle is that it makes the bottle less tippy.

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<v Speaker 1>A wine bottles are often tall and narrow, and when

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<v Speaker 1>they were originally hand blown, the loss blowing process created

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<v Speaker 1>a seam at the bottom. Adding the punt pushed the

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<v Speaker 1>seam up into the bottle, and the extra weight helped

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<v Speaker 1>keep the bottom where it belongs on the table. It

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<v Speaker 1>seems less likely that the punt is there to catch

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<v Speaker 1>wine sediment or dregs in the bottom of the bottle.

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<v Speaker 1>I mean it kind of does, but when you're pouring wine,

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<v Speaker 1>the sediment is actually caught by the shoulders of the bottle,

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<v Speaker 1>that is, where the bottle curves into the neck, and

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<v Speaker 1>many bottles of wine are stored on their sides anyway,

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<v Speaker 1>so the punt wouldn't matter for that. Furthermore, there's the

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<v Speaker 1>fact that many wines don't really contain sediments, but their

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<v Speaker 1>bottles still have punts, and that leads us to a

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<v Speaker 1>couple of sneakier reasons for that indentation. For a long time,

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<v Speaker 1>the finest wines had punts and cheaper wines did not.

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<v Speaker 1>But the makers of cheaper wines figured out that people

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<v Speaker 1>might pay more for wine in bottles with punts because

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<v Speaker 1>they thought it meant the wine was of a higher quality,

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<v Speaker 1>So today punts exist across many wine prices and qualities.

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<v Speaker 1>Then there's the fact that a bottle with a punt

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<v Speaker 1>may look bigger than a bottle without. You might feel

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<v Speaker 1>like you're getting more bang for your buck, but part

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<v Speaker 1>of that space is just extra glass and air. Most

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<v Speaker 1>bottles hold the standard seven hundred and fifty milliters of wine,

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<v Speaker 1>no matter what the shape. But okay, whyever the punt

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<v Speaker 1>was put there? It turns out that it is pretty useful.

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<v Speaker 1>You can grip the bottom of the bottle by putting

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<v Speaker 1>your thumb in the punt as you pour a glass.

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<v Speaker 1>This looks elegant assuming you don't drop the bottle, which

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<v Speaker 1>I totally have, and helps avoid transferring the heat from

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<v Speaker 1>your hand to the wine. And speaking of temperature, the

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<v Speaker 1>punt provides more surface area, which helps some varieties chill faster. Also,

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<v Speaker 1>when you're storing bottles on their sides, you can slide

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<v Speaker 1>the neck of one bottle into the punt of another

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<v Speaker 1>in order to fit more bottles in a tight spaces.

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<v Speaker 1>Episode is based on the article why does your one

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<v Speaker 1>bottle have a dent in the bottom on houstuffworks dot

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<v Speaker 1>com written by Kristen Hall Geisler. The brain stuff is

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<v Speaker 1>production of iHeartRadio in partnership with houstuffworks dot com, and

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<v Speaker 1>it is produced by Tyler Klang. Four more podcasts my

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<v Speaker 1>heart Radio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever

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