The “Bocksbeutel” – A wine bottle shape with a long history
Written by Martin Hohmann-Marriott
When I moved to the city of Würzburg, just a hundred kilometers away from the village I grew up in, I encountered a type of wine bottle that I had never seen before. Würzburg is located in an area of Bavaria called Franken (Frankonia), named after the German tribe that gave France its name.
A “Bocksbeutel” wine bottle containing Frankenwein Spätlese (late harvest). (wikipedia, under CC BY-SA 3.0 licence).
The Franken in Würzburg are blessed with the mild temperatures that exist along one of the main rivers of Germany, the Main. Mainfranken vineyards hug the south-facing slopes of the Main river, which has carved itself into the limestone common in this area. There is evidence hinting at more than a thousand years of growing wine in this environment.
Wine is everywhere in sight along the Main river - even the fortress of Würzburg, which is located in the middle of the city, is surrounded by vineyards, the grapes of which will be bottled in the famed “Bocksbeutel”.
The fortress of Würzburg (Festung Marienberg), surrounded by south-facing vineyards along the river Main. (Carsten Steger, wikipedia under CC BY-SA 4.0 licence)
The “Bocksbeutel” has a flat-pressed, ellipsoid shape with a flat bottom and usually holds 0.75L. This bottle shape enjoys a protected status within Europe that is mostly associated with wine from Franken and nearby Baden. However, there is also some use for bottling wine into similar bottles in Portugal, Italy and Greece that is allowed.
The classic “Bocksbeutel” shape is not only ornamental, but also provides the advantage of making it less likely for bottles to roll over on uneven ground. In 2015, a revised form of the bottle was introduced by the Franconian Wine Grower’s Association that retains the overall shape, but also includes sharper-edged features. This shape makes it easier to attach and display labels, as well as providing a higher density for storing and shipping wine bottles.
Revised “Bocksbeutel” bottle design. (wikipedia, under CC BY-SA 4.0 licence)
In addition to the shape, an English speaker may have a suspicion what the basis of the name “Bocksbeutel” (“buck’s”-”bag”) may be. A local guide told me that the name and shape is based on the scrotum of a ram, which was a cheap vessel for storing wine before glass became a material not only used by nobility.
Frankenwein is priced for its freshness and fruitiness. These much sought after characteristics are related to a high degree of mineralization that is due to the unique growing conditions. The most common grape varieties used for Frankenwein are Silvaner and Müller-Thurgau, followed by Bacchus and Riesling, which are all usually fermented to ‘trocken’ (dry).
You may not have encountered a “Bocksbeutel”, as a lot of it is consumed within Mainfranken and only a small amount is exported beyond German borders. Furthermore, not all grapes end up in a “Bocksbeutel”, as partly fermented grape juice becomes available shortly after harvest. This fresh “Federweisser”, contains CO2 bubbles from the ongoing fermentation and is consumed during Weinfests that spring up everywhere in Mainfranken in autumn
