Wine Bottle

The major change in the storage and enjoyment of wine came in the days of the Roman Empire with the invention of glass. Glass doesn’t react or taint the contents and therefore could be used to store wine for decades if sealed properly. Wine storage was again improved by using coloured or darkened glass. In this instance the dark green glass helps to prevent the wine from spoiling due to sunlight exposure. This is a particularly large bottle of a shape and style produced in the mid-18th century, when vast amounts of wine were transported all over Europe. This bottle is probably from the continent, possibly Holland, but others like it were produced in London and slightly later (188-1800) in the Alloa Glassworks in Scotland. It may have been from a bottle such as this that William Boyd offered hospitality to Charles Edward Stewart on the night in 1745 when he joined the uprising.