Not a minimum or a maximum. A list.
What the rule does
It names the quantities wine may be bottled in. Twenty-five of them, from 50 millilitres to 3 litres, and then even litres from 4 upward.
Which is unique in this library
Every other size rule here is a threshold or a ceiling. A capacity limit by material, a serving-size boundary, a per-container figure. This one enumerates.
There is 750 and 720 and 700, and then nothing until 620. There is 3 litres and then nothing until 4.
The list has recognizable clusters
The metric wine sizes, 750 and 375 and 187. The imperial carry-overs, 568 and 1.8 litres. And the US customary values, 473 and 355, which are 16 and 12 fluid ounces.
Those last two are why our shelf lands on it
Ten of our fourteen containers are 12 oz or 16 oz, and both of those quantities are on the list. A US customary catalog meets a metric rule in exactly two places.
And four of ours do not
One 24 oz bottle at 709.764 mL, which misses the 700 mL standard by 9.764, and three 32 oz bottles at 946.352 mL with no standard nearby.
The 24 oz near miss is the instructive one
Under ten millilitres from a permitted quantity, which is the difference between filling a bottle to the brim and filling it to a standard.
But none of them is prohibited
Because the rule regulates the fill and not the bottle, which is a distinction worth a section of its own and is the thing most often got wrong about it.
And the whole list may not apply to you
Cider and perry are wine under this part only at 7 percent alcohol by volume and above. Below that, part 4 does not reach the product.
So a number in the liquid decides a rule about the glass
Which is the second half of this property and the more surprising half.
References
27 CFR 4.72(a), authorized standards of fill, in the order printed: 3 liters, 2.25 liters, 1.8 liters, 1.5 liters, 1 liter, 750 milliliters, 720 milliliters, 700 milliliters, 620 milliliters, 600 milliliters, 568 milliliters, 550 milliliters, 500 milliliters, 473 milliliters, 375 milliliters, 360 milliliters, 355 milliliters, 330 milliliters, 300 milliliters, 250 milliliters, 200 milliliters, 187 milliliters, 180 milliliters, 100 milliliters, 50 milliliters. The section also provides that "Wine may be bottled or packed in containers of 4 liters or larger if the containers are filled and labeled in quantities of even liters (4 liters, 5 liters, 6 liters, etc.)", and that "The tolerances in fill are the same as are allowed by Sec. 4.37 in respect to statement of net contents on labels."
law.cornell.eduThe Davis Pack Supply catalog, measured 19 October 2026. This group returns 105 rows: 14 containers and 91 closures, the smallest container count of any property in this library. Ten of the fourteen sit on an authorized standard of fill: three at 354.882 mL, which is the 355 mL standard, and seven at 473.176 mL, which is the 473 mL standard. Four do not: one at 709.764 mL, which misses the 700 mL standard by 9.764 mL, and three at 946.352 mL, whose nearest standard is 1 liter. 13 are glass and 1 is PET. 9 clear, 4 amber, 1 frosted clear glass. 8 glass boston rounds, 3 glass sauce bottles, 1 glass beverage bottle, 1 glass syrup bottle, 1 PET imperial bullet cosmo. Necks: 8 at 28-400, 3 at 38-400, 2 at 33-400, 1 at 28-410, all continuous thread.
27 CFR 4.10, definition of wine. Paragraph (2): "Other alcoholic beverages not so defined, but made in the manner of wine, including sparkling and carbonated wine, wine made from condensed grape must, wine made from other agricultural products than the juice of sound, ripe grapes, imitation wine, compounds sold as wine, vermouth, cider, perry, and sake, only if for nonindustrial use and containing not less than 7 percent and not more than 24 percent of alcohol by volume." Paragraph (1) applies the same 7 to 24 percent range to wine as defined in sections 610 and 617 of the Revenue Act of 1918.
law.cornell.edu 