Italian name (derived from the medium-latin flasco = barrel) for a container or vessel, or later a bulbous balloon bottle for wine, usually braided with straw or bast. The straw covering of the wine container, already in use in the late Middle Ages, originally served to protect the thin-walled, easily breakable glass from damage. With the advent of mass tourism in the 1950s, this bottle became a symbol of carefree holiday enjoyment and enjoyment of life.
Chianti in particular was bottled in such bottles. There was hardly an Italian restaurant or pizzeria where these bottles were not used to decorate the walls with the inevitable fishing net and shells. From the 1970s onwards, it became increasingly out of fashion. With the 2012 vintage, the Ruffino winery started a rebirth of the bottle with environmentally friendly paper bast. In Umbria, a similar bottle shape is used for the two DOC wines Est! Est!! Est!!!! di Montefiascone and Orvieto under the name Pulcinella. See also the list under Bottles and Wine Vessels.
The Wine lexicon helps me to keep up to date and refresh my knowledge. Thank you for this Lexicon that will never end in terms of topicality! That's what makes it so exciting to come back often.
Thorsten Rahn
Restaurantleiter, Sommelier, Weindozent und Autor; Dresden