Hand Blown Artistic Wine Bottles

The wine bottle, just like anything else, is going through a major change. The dawn of the 21st century brought us iPhone, Goggle, YouTube, Facebook, Twitter and broadband Internet access. Our fast lives demands instant gratification and brings with it information and sensory overload. An ever increasing segment of many societies realize that this addiction has to be managed and they take control of their lives by going back to the basics in many areas of their life. How great it is to slow down, relax and have an exquisite glass of rare wine from an even more special hand blown artistic wine bottle.

Sit back on your patio overlooking the lake; enjoy the sunset, sipping your favorite wine specialty and admiring the work of art. On my recent visit to Hungary I had the fortune to meet one of the most prominent companies producing these amazing bottles. I interviewed one of the leading company in this field at his showroom and asked him to introduce me to his amazing selection of decorative wine bottles (see on YouTube).

Ivan: What is special about these hand blown wine bottles and the world famous Hungarian wine in these bottles?

Gabor: We are in business for 12 years to produce artistically shaped hand blown wine bottles filled with wine. All bottles require manual labor, only certain processes can be automated. Regular glass in my left hand cannot be formed by hand unlike the much higher quality and more expensive fire resistant glass in my right hand. The fire retardant material is about 10 times more expensive than regular glass. After the manual labor, the glass stays in the oven on 500 °C – 600 °C (932 °F – 1112 °F) for 8 hours to relieve any stress and avoid breaking easily.

Ivan: How do you color the parts inside?

Gabor: This bottle has a plum inside. The plum and its leaves are made out of an even more expansive colored material to avoid any harmful paint getting into the wine.

Ivan: What kind of fluid can go into the bottles?

Gabor: To avoid discoloration the fluid has to be very clean. The wine is pasteurized and microfiltered (.20 -.45 µ). Filling the bottles at home is not recommended. We always keep samples of the batch to prove the quality of the shipment. If the shipper does not keep the shipping specifications, we have the proof.

Ivan: Which bottles are you really proud of and which are the most popular?

Gabor: I am proud of all of them; of course (laughter) and all of them are exceptional products. Let me show you this bottle with a schooner inside. The Yacht industry is big in the US and they might appreciate this masterpiece. This other one has grape bunch cluster inside the bottle and the grape is filled with red wine. This one is a twisted bottle with a whole in the middle and a pretty grape bunch cluster outside. You can also drink the red wine in the grape bunch cluster. We also have different shapes, like animals, ships, airplanes, cars, etc. This one is great for birthdays with any number inside. This one is great for companies to promote themselves or a product. It’s a frosted bottle with a company logo on the other side visible through a window. This one is a globe on a wood stand.

Ivan: The ribbon around the neck has the Hungarian national colors, red, white and green.

Gabor: This one on the wood stand also has a little tap and grape bunch cluster.

From the showroom we moved to an area where some of the manufacturing processes are handled.

Gabor: This is the.45 µ membrane microfilter. This is a bottle with 2 taps, twisted design with a small sail boat inside. This one demonstrates the grape harvest process. This one is about the vineyard chores.

Ivan: This would be great in Napa Valley, CA. By the way, Napa Valley Wine Country was established in the early 1900′s by Agoston Haraszti, a Hungarian count and winemaker.

After this great introduction of Gabor’s operation and wide variety of phenomenal, decorative and artistic hand blown wine bottles, we concluded by tasting the content. He also mentioned the Chinese are very interested his products and his goal is to make a strong foothold in the US as well. Continuing my original thoughts, it is clear from Gabor’s success that people are looking for beautiful handmade luxurious products, something that the sophisticated Romans would produce for their wealthy. Fortunately it is available for us today and the price is very reasonable and competitive.

Factoid:

• 60 million years old Fossil vines are the earliest scientific evidence of grapes.
• Glass was invented by the Sumerian Civilization around 3000 B.C.
• Glass is made by mixing Quartz sand (silica) and sand in very hot forms.
• The color of the glass is achieved by adding other chemicals to the basic ingredients.
• The term glass developed in the late Roman Empire, originated from the word glesum.
• Manganese oxide makes the glass clear, a process invented by the Romans in Alexandria ca. AD 100
• Glassblowing, a glass forming technique that involves inflating the molten glass into a bubble, was invented by the Phoenicians at approximately 50 B.C.
• Romans were the first to use hand blown glass bottles to store wine, a major improvement over clay jars.
• In 1635 when Sir Kenelam Digby invented the first thick-walled wine bottle
• Bottle making machines were invented in the 1800′s.
• In the in the late 1970s, both the United States and the European Union standardized on 750 ml wine bottles.

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