Answers.Body: <p>They are not.</p>
  
  <p>I looked through my collection of wine labels (about 50 from around the globe) - many of them are 0,75l, many are 75cl and some are 750ml. I couldn't determine any dependence of volume unit on country or region or type of the wine. </p>
  
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 4.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2019-03-14T13:52:00.310Z
Answers.LastActivityDate: 2019-03-14T13:52:00.310Z
Answers.UserDisplayName: Altbier is not Old Beer
Answers.Body: <p>Copied from: <a href="https://www.thefrenchcellar.sg/why-is-75cl-the-standard-wine-bottle-size/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Why is 75cl the standard wine bottle size?</a></p>
  
  <blockquote>
    <p>The volume of 75cl was standardized in the 19th century. At that time,
    the biggest clients for the French wines were the British.</p>
    
    <p>The close neighbors do not use the metric system and used to order
    wine in “imperial gallon”. One gallon is about 4.546 liters.</p>
    
    <p>Barrels were used to transport wine at that time. One barrel is 50
    gallons, about 225 liters. A real nightmare for conversion! So to ease
    the calculation, the wine makers from Bordeaux decided that 1 barrel
    would be 300 bottles of wine instead of 225.</p>
    
    <p>Do the math and you’ll find that it makes a bottle at 75cl! One gallon
    is 6 bottles, and since then, that’s the reason why we still order
    wine in packs of 6 or 12 bottles. </p>
  </blockquote>
  
  <p></p>
  
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 4.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2019-06-24T10:25:22.270Z
Answers.Text: My question was regarding the use of centiliters rather than liters or milliliters. Thanks for the history background though.
Answers.UserDisplayName: Kuba Szymanowski
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 4.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2019-06-24T12:44:02.217Z
Answers.Text: @Mira Welcome to StackExchange!  Correct attribution is very important here.  When you're referencing a source, you need to make sure it's correctly quoted and linked.  Here's more detail from [our Help Center topic on the subject](https://alcohol.stackexchange.com/help/referencing).
Answers.UserDisplayName: Xander
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 4.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2019-06-24T06:59:03.257Z
Answers.LastActivityDate: 2019-06-24T12:41:40.530Z
Answers.LastEditDate: 2019-06-24T12:41:40.530Z
Answers.UserDisplayName: Mira
Answers.Body: <p><strong>Why are wine bottle volumes in centiliters not in liters or milliliters?</strong></p>
  
  <p>Part of the answer is in the marketing system used in a particular country or region and part of it would be about the size of bottle being purchased.</p>
  
  <p>In Canada and the USA, in a standard bottle of wine, there are 750 millilitres (ml), 75 centilitres (cl) or 0.75 litres (l). Wine bottles aren't quite litre-size, but the average wine bottle will contain 750ml of wine. </p>
  
  <p>I see only 750ml bottles in the area where I live. I am fine with that. A bottle of wine marketed as 0.75 liters seems less appealing than wine sold in a bottle marketed as 750ml. And one marketed with a 75cl label seems less traditional in this neck of the world and may not sell as good as one sold with 750ml marked on the label. It is sold in a more positive light so to speak. It is all marketing.</p>
  
  <p>I am sure there are other reasons, but take a look at <a href="https://www.diffordsguide.com/encyclopedia/235/bws/bottle-sizes-the-worlds-mandatory-bottle-sizes" rel="noreferrer">Difford's Guide</a> to mandatory bottle sizes around the world. It is an eye opener to say the least.</p>
  
  <p>However there is more to the Subject:</p>
  
  <blockquote>
    <p>When glass bottles become popular though, it is surprising to see that both continental Europe and Great Britain had glass containers of a similar size. The British had an official glass-container size of a fifth of their Imperial (UK) Gallon at around 900ml, while other Europeans' bottles gravitated around 700ml to 800ml. The US officially adopted the 750ml bottle as a standard in 1979, as a metric equivalent to the fifth of a US Gallon (757ml). - <a href="https://www.vivino.com/wine-news/a-simple-guide-to-wine-bottle-sizes/standard" rel="noreferrer">Standard Bottle</a></p>
  </blockquote>
  
  <p><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alcohol_measurements" rel="noreferrer">Alcohol measurement</a> in bottles has undergone several revisions in the last few decades as <a href="https://www.diffordsguide.com/encyclopedia/235/bws/bottle-sizes-the-worlds-mandatory-bottle-sizes" rel="noreferrer">Difford's Guide</a> point out for the USA mandatory spirits bottle sizes (January 1, 1980) and the European Union mandatory spirits bottle sizes (January 1, 1990). </p>
  
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 4.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2019-03-14T00:14:03.103Z
Answers.LastActivityDate: 2019-03-14T11:30:31.517Z
Answers.LastEditDate: 2019-03-14T11:30:31.517Z
Answers.UserDisplayName: Ken Graham
Body: <p>Almost every beverage bottle I have come across has it's contents' volume specified in either liters or milliliters. That is except for wine bottles which are more often than not designated in centiliters. For example:</p>
  
  <p><a href="https://i.sstatic.net/4ctuI.jpg" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/4ctuI.jpg" alt="enter image description here"></a></p>
  
  <p>Milliliters or liters are far more popular than centiliters in the countries using SI units. Why use centiliters then, especially for something as simple as 1 liter in the example? Has it some historic background?</p>
  
Comments.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 4.0
Comments.CreationDate: 2019-03-13T22:17:41.817Z
Comments.Text: Not sure. I see that more on European bottles. In the USA it's either liters or milliliters. Probably just a custom in Europe.
Comments.UserDisplayName: farmersteve
Comments.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 4.0
Comments.CreationDate: 2019-03-22T08:03:46.193Z
Comments.Text: I hate to sound pedantic but there is no such thing as a liter or any derivative thereof.
  There is a litre. It's a thousandth of a cubic metre.
Comments.UserDisplayName: Dave Gillett
Comments.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 4.0
Comments.CreationDate: 2019-03-22T12:08:14.220Z
Comments.Text: @DaveGillett I disagree. From what I've seen "litre" is the British spelling and "liter" is the American spelling, both are correct and mean the same thing. I'm more used to American spelling, that's why I used "liter".
Comments.UserDisplayName: Kuba Szymanowski
Comments.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 4.0
Comments.CreationDate: 2019-12-11T17:58:05.357Z
Comments.Text: @Kuba In Sweden it's a mixture of l, dl, cl and ml. I would say that one is used more often than the other. And I also agree with you that it's spelled liter, who cares about the British spelling :)
Comments.UserDisplayName: Ola Ström
Tags: <wine><bottles>
Title: Why are wine bottle volumes in centiliters not in liters or milliliters?
UserDisplayName: Kuba Szymanowski
ThreadText: # Why are wine bottle volumes in centiliters not in liters or milliliters?
  
  (Asked by: username_0 on 2019-03-13)
  
  Almost every beverage bottle I have come across has it's contents' volume specified in either liters or milliliters. That is except for wine bottles which are more often than not designated in centiliters. For example:
  
  [![enter image description here](https://i.sstatic.net/4ctuI.jpg)](https://i.sstatic.net/4ctuI.jpg)
  
  Milliliters or liters are far more popular than centiliters in the countries using SI units. Why use centiliters then, especially for something as simple as 1 liter in the example? Has it some historic background?
  
  **Tags:** wine, bottles
  
  > **Comments:**
  > **username_1**: Not sure. I see that more on European bottles. In the USA it's either liters or milliliters. Probably just a custom in Europe.  
  > **username_2**: I hate to sound pedantic but there is no such thing as a liter or any derivative thereof. There is a litre. It's a thousandth of a cubic metre.  
  > **username_0**: @DaveGillett I disagree. From what I've seen "litre" is the British spelling and "liter" is the American spelling, both are correct and mean the same thing. I'm more used to American spelling, that's why I used "liter".  
  > **username_3**: @Kuba In Sweden it's a mixture of l, dl, cl and ml. I would say that one is used more often than the other. And I also agree with you that it's spelled liter, who cares about the British spelling :)  
  
  ---
  
  ## 3 answers
  
  ### Answer by username_7 on 2019-03-14. Score: 7 | Accepted answer
  
  **Why are wine bottle volumes in centiliters not in liters or milliliters?**
  
  Part of the answer is in the marketing system used in a particular country or region and part of it would be about the size of bottle being purchased.
  
  In Canada and the USA, in a standard bottle of wine, there are 750 millilitres (ml), 75 centilitres (cl) or 0.75 litres (l). Wine bottles aren't quite litre-size, but the average wine bottle will contain 750ml of wine.
  
  I see only 750ml bottles in the area where I live. I am fine with that. A bottle of wine marketed as 0.75 liters seems less appealing than wine sold in a bottle marketed as 750ml. And one marketed with a 75cl label seems less traditional in this neck of the world and may not sell as good as one sold with 750ml marked on the label. It is sold in a more positive light so to speak. It is all marketing.
  
  I am sure there are other reasons, but take a look at [Difford's Guide](https://www.diffordsguide.com/encyclopedia/235/bws/bottle-sizes-the-worlds-mandatory-bottle-sizes) to mandatory bottle sizes around the world. It is an eye opener to say the least.
  
  However there is more to the Subject:
  
  > When glass bottles become popular though, it is surprising to see that both continental Europe and Great Britain had glass containers of a similar size. The British had an official glass-container size of a fifth of their Imperial (UK) Gallon at around 900ml, while other Europeans' bottles gravitated around 700ml to 800ml. The US officially adopted the 750ml bottle as a standard in 1979, as a metric equivalent to the fifth of a US Gallon (757ml). - [Standard Bottle](https://www.vivino.com/wine-news/a-simple-guide-to-wine-bottle-sizes/standard)
  
  [Alcohol measurement](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alcohol_measurements) in bottles has undergone several revisions in the last few decades as [Difford's Guide](https://www.diffordsguide.com/encyclopedia/235/bws/bottle-sizes-the-worlds-mandatory-bottle-sizes) point out for the USA mandatory spirits bottle sizes (January 1, 1980) and the European Union mandatory spirits bottle sizes (January 1, 1990).
  
  
  ---
  
  ### Answer by username_4 on 2019-03-14. Score: 2
  
  They are not.
  
  I looked through my collection of wine labels (about 50 from around the globe) - many of them are 0,75l, many are 75cl and some are 750ml. I couldn't determine any dependence of volume unit on country or region or type of the wine.
  
  
  ---
  
  ### Answer by username_5 on 2019-06-24. Score: 1
  
  Copied from: [Why is 75cl the standard wine bottle size?](https://www.thefrenchcellar.sg/why-is-75cl-the-standard-wine-bottle-size/)
  
  > The volume of 75cl was standardized in the 19th century. At that time,
  > the biggest clients for the French wines were the British.
  >
  > The close neighbors do not use the metric system and used to order
  > wine in “imperial gallon”. One gallon is about 4.546 liters.
  >
  > Barrels were used to transport wine at that time. One barrel is 50
  > gallons, about 225 liters. A real nightmare for conversion! So to ease
  > the calculation, the wine makers from Bordeaux decided that 1 barrel
  > would be 300 bottles of wine instead of 225.
  >
  > Do the math and you’ll find that it makes a bottle at 75cl! One gallon
  > is 6 bottles, and since then, that’s the reason why we still order
  > wine in packs of 6 or 12 bottles.
  
  > **Comments:**
  > **username_0**: My question was regarding the use of centiliters rather than liters or milliliters. Thanks for the history background though.  
  > **username_6**: @username_5 Welcome to StackExchange!  Correct attribution is very important here.  When you're referencing a source, you need to make sure it's correctly quoted and linked.  Here's more detail from [our Help Center topic on the subject](https://alcohol.stackexchange.com/help/referencing).  
  
  ---
  
  