Red bottles

France is the only producer of Pineau des Charentes, a kind of liqueur red or amber. Unlike most of other beverages (beer and spirits) there are no other countries producers of Pineau. These bottles are ready for delivery from one of the numerous storehouses in Charente Maritime. Bottles, wineskins, flasks, amphora, perfume vials, jewels with gold and glass have been related from time immemorial to pleasures and favorable omen. Bottles made of clay and have been used since prehistoric times but we do not know accurately when glass bottles have been produced for the first time. Some researchers situate their appearance with the Phoenician civilization (1500 – 300BC), others believe the first glass bottles date back to the Bronze Age, in other words, between 3000BC and 1000BC… We have some evidences of glassblowing in Syria about one century BC. Glass was brittle and not totally translucent as the glass today and the bottles did not comply with standards so that they came in all sorts of colors and shapes. The reasons were the molding technologies, the difficulty to get the right temperatures inside the furnace and chemistry which was unknown to Ancients artisans. Lack of chemical knowledge was a severe handicap to produce clear bottles of glass. However, we know that metallic oxides of antimony and manganese were an ordinary decolorant of the glass industry in antiquity. Both produced almost colorless glasses. The cutoff point was the thirteenth century with the Venitian glass blowers. Glass-makers fled from Constantinople during the Fourth Crusade and moved in Venice. But the number of refineries was growing too fast what increased the risk of fire. So, the artisans left Venice and settled in Murano Island in the end of the twelfth century. Three centuries later Venetian glass-makers created the first lead crystal glass called cristallo a perfect translucent glass. In the eighteenth century people understood the importance to distinguish the difference between winemakers, the vineyards and the date of bottling. The shapes of the bottles became longer and sleeker because they were easier to store almost horizontally. Standardization came much later for trading purpose. In 1979 the US decided to set the standard capacity for the bottles of wine at 750ml. http:--claude-lustier.artistwebsites.com-featured-red-bottles-planetoday-photography.html
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