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What price the bottle shape?

The polarisation of the shapes of bottles used for red wines is a fascinating topic. Choice of thehigh-shouldered Bordeaux bottle or the chubbier-looking, sloping-shouldered Burgundy bottle is clearly an important decision for image builders outside the three classic winegrowing regions.

It is arguable that the average wine drinker is not aware of the distinction at a conscious level. Yet wine producers think differently.

Part of the restyling of Torres Gran Coronas, the Catalan wine which owes so much in its constitution to Bordeaux, is its switch to a Bordeaux-style bottle. From a distance the 1988 vintage, just released with its newly designed bottle and new chaste label, could be a Bordeaux. Equally, the wine - 85% Cabernet Sauvignon and 15% the Spanish native grape Tempranillo - could, in certain circumstances, be mistaken for Bordeaux.

At a subliminal level the shape of the bottle may well affect the way the wine drinker perceives the wine. It has been said that those who are not in the know are reluctant to try the powerful, dry wines of Alsace because the tall, skittle shape of its bottle suggests the very different sweet and sour style made on the far side of the Rhine.