The Bocksbeutel is a type of

wine bottle A wine bottle is a bottle, generally a glass bottle, that is used for holding wine. Some wines are fermented in the bottle while others are bottled only after fermentation. Recently the bottle has become a standard unit of volume to describe s ...

with the form of a flattened

ellipsoid An ellipsoid is a surface that may be obtained from a sphere by deforming it by means of directional scalings, or more generally, of an affine transformation. An ellipsoid is a quadric surface; that is, a surface that may be defined as the ...

. It is commonly used for wines from

Franconia Franconia (german: Franken, ; Franconian dialect: ''Franggn'' ; bar, Frankn) is a region of Germany, characterised by its culture and Franconian dialect (German: ''Fränkisch''). The three administrative regions of Lower, Middle and Upper F ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG),, is a country in Central Europe. It is the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany lies between the Baltic and North Sea to the north and the Alps to the sou ...

, but is also used for some

Portuguese wine Portuguese wine was mostly introduced by the Romans and other ancient Mediterranean peoples who traded with local coastal populations, mainly in the South. In pre-Roman Gallaecia-Lusitania times, the native peoples only drank beer and were unfam ...

s, in particular

rosé A rosé () is a type of wine that incorporates some of the color from the grape skins, but not enough to qualify it as a red wine. It may be the oldest known type of wine, as it is the most straightforward to make with the skin contact metho ...

s, where the bottle is called cantil, and in rare cases for

Italian wine Italian wine is produced in every region of Italy. Italy is the world's largest producer of wine, with an area of under vineyard cultivation, and contributing a 2013–2017 annual average of 48.3 million hl of wine. In 2018 Italy accounted for ...

(in this case called pulcianella) and

Greek wine Greece is one of the oldest wine- producing regions in the world and among the first wine-producing territories in Europe. The earliest evidence of Greek wine has been dated to 6,500 years ago

History

This bottle shape is derived from that of

field bottle A canteen is a reusable drinking water bottle designed to be used by hikers, campers, soldiers, bush firefighters (including non-potable water), and workers in the field in the early 1800s. It is usually fitted with a shoulder strap or means fo ...

s, which were known already in antiquity, and which were manufactured with a flattened shape for practical purposes, for example to keep the bottle from rolling away on uneven ground. The Bocksbeutel has been used for wine from Franconia at least since the early 18th century, initially for the wines from the region's most famous vineyard, the

Würzburg Würzburg (; Main-Franconian: ) is a city in the region of Franconia in the north of the German state of Bavaria. Würzburg is the administrative seat of the '' Regierungsbezirk'' Lower Franconia. It spans the banks of the Main River. Würzbur ...

er Stein, and later for other Franconian wines, in particular those of better quality. The city council of Würzburg decided in 1728 that the best wines from the city's own winery, the ''Bürgerspital'', should be filled in Bocksbeutel bottles.

Origin of the name

There are two conflicting claims of the origin of the name Bocksbeutel, although the ''Beutel''-part stands for "container" in both cases. One claim is that it is derived from the

Low German : : : : : (70,000) (30,000) (8,000) , familycolor = Indo-European , fam2 = Germanic , fam3 = West Germanic , fam4 = North Sea Germanic , ancestor = Old Saxon , ancestor2 = Middle ...

term ''Booksbüdel'', which stands for a small sack used to protect and carry

book A book is a medium for recording information in the form of writing or images, typically composed of many pages (made of papyrus, parchment, vellum, or paper) bound together and protected by a cover. The technical term for this phys ...

s, in particular prayer books or song books carried on travels (see girdle books). These sacks were used already in pre-

Reformation The Reformation (alternatively named the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation) was a major movement within Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the Catholic Church and i ...

times, but became eventually outdated and were seen as a whimsical expression of overly conservative behavior. Another claim is that the term actually means "

ram Ram, ram, or RAM may refer to: Animals * A male sheep * Ram cichlid, a freshwater tropical fish People * Ram (given name) * Ram (surname) * Ram (director) (Ramsubramaniam), an Indian Tamil film director * RAM (musician) (born 1974), Dutch ...

scrotum The scrotum or scrotal sac is an anatomical male reproductive structure located at the base of the penis that consists of a suspended dual-chambered sac of skin and smooth muscle. It is present in most terrestrial male mammals. The scrotum co ...

", which is supposed to be of similar shape as the bottle. This explanation is given as early as 1690 in a dictionary by

Kaspar von Stieler Kaspar von Stieler, also called Caspar Stieler (2 August 1632 – 24 June 1707), was a soldier-poet and later a linguist. He expressed the feelings of the soldiers of the Thirty Years War The Thirty Years' War was one of the longest and ...

. The term ''Bokesbudel'' with this meaning is said to have existed in the Early Middle Age, before song books were used. However, the explanations are not mutually exclusive. Franconia is well distant from the Low German-speaking lands, and a term like ''Booksbüdel'' would not normally have been understood there. If the Low German term was adopted in Franconia, any similar local words are likely to have influenced this process. There is a later expression ''einen Bocksbeutel anhängen'' ("to attach a ''Bocksbeutel'' o someone), meaning "to make someone an object of ridicule", attested in the 19th-century ''

Deutsches Wörterbuch The ''Deutsches Wörterbuch'' (; "The German Dictionary"), abbreviated ''DWB'', is the largest and most comprehensive dictionary of the German language in existence.Kick me" prank,

cuckold A cuckold is the husband of an adulterous wife; the wife of an adulterous husband is a cuckquean. In biology, a cuckold is a male who unwittingly invests parental effort in juveniles who are not genetically his offspring. A husband who is a ...

horns and other forms of

public humiliation Public humiliation or public shaming is a form of punishment whose main feature is dishonoring or disgracing a person, usually an offender or a prisoner, especially in a public place. It was regularly used as a form of judicially sanctioned pun ...

such as "donkey ears"), but a wine bottle is an unlikely object to use for such a purpose. Both a ''Booksbüdel'' and a ram's scrotum are perfectly suitable, being small and light objects with a connotation of ridiculousness. Thus, it is hard to determine to what extent either ''Booksbüdel'' or ''Bokesbudel'' or both contributed to the modern term.

Protected bottle shape

Within the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been ...

, the Bocksbeutel enjoys the status of a protected bottle shape.Council Regulation (EC) No 753/2002 of 29 April 2002 laying down certain rules for applying Council Regulation (EC) No 1493/1999 as regards the description, designation, presentation and protection of certain wine sector products
Annex I: Reservation of certain types of bottle The regulations describe the Bocksbeutel as a short-necked glass bottle, pot-bellied but flattened in shape, with the base and the cross-section of the bottle at the point of greatest convexity ellipsoidal in shape. The ratio between the long and short axes of the ellipsoidal cross-section is approximately 2:1, and the ratio of the height of the convex body to the cylindrical neck of the bottle is approximately 2.5:1. The Bocksbeutel may be used for the following wines: * German wines of QbA and Prädikatswein quality from: ** Franconia ** Certain parts of

Baden Baden (; ) is a historical territory in South Germany, in earlier times on both sides of the Upper Rhine but since the Napoleonic Wars only East of the Rhine. History The margraves of Baden originated from the House of Zähringen. Baden ...

, in the district known as Tauber Franconia (''Tauberfranken'') and around

Baden-Baden Baden-Baden () is a spa town in the state of Baden-Württemberg, south-western Germany, at the north-western border of the Black Forest mountain range on the small river Oos, ten kilometres (six miles) east of the Rhine, the border with France, ...

* Certain wines from Northern and Central Italy at the

DOC DOC, Doc, doc or DoC may refer to: In film and television * ''Doc'' (2001 TV series), a 2001–2004 PAX series * ''Doc'' (1975 TV series), a 1975–1976 CBS sitcom * "D.O.C." (''Lost''), a television episode * ''Doc'' (film), a 1971 Wester ...

and

DOCG The following four classifications of wine constitute the Italian system of labelling and legally protecting Italian wine: * ''Denominazione di origine'' (DO, rarely used; ; English: “designation of origin”), * ''Indicazione geografica t ...

level: ** Santa Maddalena (St. Magdalener), ** Valle Isarco (Eisacktaler), if made from

Silvaner Sylvaner or Silvaner is a variety of white wine grape grown primarily in Alsace and Germany, where its official name is Grüner Silvaner. While the Alsatian versions have primarily been considered simpler wines, it was included among the vari ...

Müller-Thurgau Müller-Thurgau is a white grape variety (sp. ''Vitis vinifera'') which was created by Hermann Müller from the Swiss Canton of Thurgau in 1882 at the Geisenheim Grape Breeding Institute in Germany. It is a crossing of Riesling with Madeleine ...

** Terlaner, if made from

Pinot blanc Pinot blanc is a white wine grape. It is a point genetic mutation of Pinot noir. Pinot noir is genetically unstable and will occasionally experience a point mutation in which a vine bears all black fruit except for one cane which produces ...

** Bozner Leiten ** Alto Adige (Südtiroler), if made from

Riesling Riesling (, ; ) is a white grape variety that originated in the Rhine region. Riesling is an aromatic grape variety displaying flowery, almost perfumed, aromas as well as high acidity. It is used to make dry, semi-sweet, sweet, and sparkling ...

, Müller-Thurgau,

Pinot noir Pinot Noir () is a red-wine grape variety of the species ''Vitis vinifera''. The name may also refer to wines created predominantly from pinot noir grapes. The name is derived from the French language, French words for ''pine'' and ''black.' ...

Moscato giallo Moscato Giallo or Yellow Muscat is a white Italian wine grape variety that is a member of the Muscat family of grapes. Known for its large deep cluster of loose, deep-yellow berries and golden colored wine, Moscato Giallo is grown mostly in north ...

, Silvaner, Lagrein, Pinot blanc or

Moscato rosa Moscato may refer to: *Muscat (grape), a family of grapes used in wine-making *Moscato d'Asti, an Italian sparkling wine *Moscato Giallo, a variety of grape *Moscato (surname) Moscato is a surname. Notable people with the name include: *Carmelina ...

** Greco di Bianco **

Trentino Trentino ( lld, Trentin), officially the Autonomous Province of Trento, is an autonomous province of Italy, in the country's far north. The Trentino and South Tyrol constitute the region of Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol, an autonomous regio ...

, if made from Moscato ** (in ancient times) Montepulciano * Certain Greek wines ** Agioritiko ** Rombola Kephalonias ** Wines from the island of

Kefalonia Kefalonia or Cephalonia ( el, Κεφαλονιά), formerly also known as Kefallinia or Kephallenia (), is the largest of the Ionian Islands in western Greece and the 6th largest island in Greece after Crete, Euboea, Lesbos, Rhodes and Chio ...

** Wines from the island of

Paros Paros (; el, Πάρος; Venetian: ''Paro'') is a Greek island in the central Aegean Sea. One of the Cyclades island group, it lies to the west of Naxos, from which it is separated by a channel about wide. It lies approximately south-east of ...

** Wines from the

Peloponnese The Peloponnese (), Peloponnesus (; el, Πελοπόννησος, Pelopónnēsos,(), or Morea is a peninsula and geographic region in southern Greece. It is connected to the central part of the country by the Isthmus of Corinth land bridge whi ...

* Certain Portuguese wines, such as Mateus. The use is limited to rosé wines and those other quality wines and '' vinho regional'' which can prove that they have traditionally been bottled in ''cantil''-type bottles before they received their present classification.

References

{{Reflist Wine packaging and storage

History

Origin of the name

Protected bottle shape

See also

References