There are six reasons why wine can be bottled in green or brown bottles. Customers who often buy wine will see significant differences in the color of grape wine bottles, some are green, some are brown, and some are white. Some customers believe that green and brown wine bottles can prevent light exposure, so they believe that wine in green and brown bottles is of relatively better quality, while wine in white bottles is slightly inferior in quality. Is this really the case? Before answering this question, let's first understand the development process of grape wine bottles.

1. The development process of wine bottles

The container for storing wine is not actually a glass bottle, but a slender clay jar. Although these containers have a good appearance, they are very heavy and difficult to carry, and the clay material has an impact on the flavor of the wine, so the clay jars were quickly screened. It was not until the mid to late 17th century that glass bottles began to be used. However, due to the fact that glass is mostly made from sand and limestone as raw materials, which inevitably contains some impurities, and the limited manufacturing skills at that time, it was not possible to achieve the level of removing impurities and compounds from the glass. Therefore, the most natural color of glass wine bottles at that time was green. Later, with the advancement of technology, various types of wine bottles gradually emerged, resulting in brown, blue, and white wine bottles.

2. Advantages of Green Wine Bottles

Oxygen is a double-edged sword for wine. Micro oxygen can make the tannins and polyphenols of wine more aged and softened, the structure more smooth and delicate, and the aroma will also appear messy and diverse. Excessive oxygen can make wine tannins thin, with a dull and tasteless structure, and a quick loss of aroma. However, some substances in wine itself have strong antioxidant properties, such as resveratrol, which can to some extent avoid the oxidation of wine. However, under strong light irradiation, the antioxidant properties of wine can quickly be damaged, accelerating the excessive oxidation of wine and causing it to undergo oxidative transformation. Additionally, ultraviolet radiation can accelerate the movement of wine molecules and damage the stability of the wine.

Green wine bottles can block light from entering the liquor, effectively avoiding excessive oxidation of wine, providing a good environment for wine storage and facilitating wine aging. Green wine bottles are also commonly used in regions such as Bordeaux, Bourgogne, Rhone Valley, Mosel, Alsace, and Champagne.

3. Advantages of Brown Wine Bottles

Brown wine bottles, like green wine bottles, have a certain blocking effect on light and can avoid oxidation of wine, which is beneficial for the aging and storage of wine. However, brown wine bottles filter light more effectively than green wine bottles, making them more conducive to the aging and preservation of wine.

Common American cult wine, Italian Barolo, Amarone, and Australian Barossa Valley wines, many of which use brown wine bottles.

4. Advantages of White Wine Bottles

White wine bottles do not have much filtering ability for light, so they are generally not suitable for the aging storage of wine, and are primarily suitable for some white and peach wines. White wine bottles can give people a fresh and transparent feeling, and can showcase the tempting colors of wine to customers. Together, customers can easily investigate whether the wine has sedimentation and impurities, making it easy to purchase.

White wine bottles are generally used for wines consumed within 1-2 years after bottling, such as Provence peach wine from France and Chardonnay from Chile. Some sweet wines, such as Sauternes from France, Austrian sweet wines, Canadian ice wines, and Tokay from Australia, although also packaged in white bottles, have strong antioxidant properties and proper lighting does not have a significant impact on the quality of the wine. Together, white wine bottles can be more conducive to investigating the aging of sweet wines and adjusting storage conditions.

5. Green and brown wine bottles are definitely better than white wine bottles?

After the above conclusion, green and brown wine bottles generally hold wines with longer aging potential, while white wine bottles generally hold ready to drink wines. Then some customers deduced that the quality of wine in green and brown bottles must be higher than that in white bottles. But in fact, that's not the case. Although green and brown wine bottles have good filtering effects on light, many low-quality wines are now packaged in green and brown wine bottles, while many premium wines are packaged in white wine bottles. Many ordinary French table wines (VDT, VDP) are packaged in green and brown wine bottles, while some top-notch expensive rotting wines are packaged in white wine bottles.

Therefore, the color of the wine bottle is not a reflection of the uneven quality of the wine, let alone the fact that the quality of green and brown wine bottles is necessarily higher than that of white wine bottles.

6. Can green and brown wine bottles be stored without being exposed to light?

Green and brown wine bottles have a blocking effect on light, but doesn't that mean there's no need for dark storage? Of course not. Placing green and brown wine bottles under strong sunlight can sometimes result in the wine being scrapped in just one day. Because green and brown bottles can block some of the light, but not all of it. Therefore, placing green and brown bottles of wine under the light source for a long time is not conducive to the aging of the wine, and may even endanger the quality of the wine. Therefore, green and brown wine bottles should also be stored away from light.