Inner Diameter of Italian Wine Bottle Necks?

Why is the inner diameter of Italian Wine bottle necks smaller than bottles from other countries?

[Robin Garr]

Why is the inner diameter of Italian Wine bottle necks smaller than bottles from other countries?

Greg, this isn't invariably true, but it's certainly a fact that a lot of Italian wines (often cheaper wines) come with undersize corks.

I've always assumed this was a simple way to save bucks. A little less cork here, a little less cork there, and pretty soon you've saved a couple of billion lire.

"I've always assumed this was a simple way to save bucks. A little less cork here, a little less cork there, and pretty soon you've saved a couple of billion lire."

I have seen this with nicer bottlings as well. I guess you are right. I am glad others haven't followed suit.

[David M. Bueker]

pretty soon you've saved a couple of billion lire.

equivalent to 3 Euros.

Greg, the Italians created the two armed corkscrew to deal with the smaller corks generally found in Italian wine bottles. See for example:

Modern corkscrews

The variety of corkscrews available on the market today may easily confuse the wine drinker who just needs to open bottles with speed and efficiency. Corkscrews with poorly finished or blunt worms should be rejected and the two-armed Italian examples are best avoided as they usually have a solid core to the worm which tends to destroy the cork of an aged bordeaux or port rather than extract it; not surprisingly, such corkscrews are better adapted to the tightly compressed, almost wooden, corks found in bottles of Italian wine.

This extract is from the OCW, 2d edition.

Bottle sizes and dimensions varied from country to country -- in many cases, the size was determined by the automatic glass making machines which were first invented in the 1900s. The cork followed the bottle, I think.

Thanks.

I noticed this a long time ago when I discovered that I had trouble inserting corks into Italian bottles, which I clean and re-use for my home made wines. In fact, I pointed this out a few weeks ago:
http://www.wineloverspage.com/forum/village/viewtopic.php?t=12061

I use one of the positive pressure nitrogen savers when I know I won't be able to finish the bottle in one session. They don't fit into the Italian wine bottle necks. I know it shouldn't, but it does reduce the frequency with which I explore Italian wines. For instance, I have recently been sampling Barolos. For the price of these wines, and because I like to have more than one bottle open at a time, the narrow necks are not ideal.

Greg