What goes wrong

The capacity was read as the fill

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Our capacity field is nominal So a non-standard bottle was read as unusable Or a standard bottle was read as automatically compliant The tolerance provision was overlooked And that cross-reference was not followed Headspace was treated as free The 24 oz near miss was treated as a failure A gallon was assumed to be available And a quart was assumed to be on the list And the nominal capacity was compared to the wrong list Check the fill, then pick the bottle References

A 946 millilitre bottle is not a 946 millilitre fill.

Our capacity field is nominal

It is the volume of the container. The quantity you fill to and declare is a separate number and it is yours.

So a non-standard bottle was read as unusable

It is not. Fill a 946 millilitre bottle to 750 and label it 750, and the standard of fill is satisfied.

Or a standard bottle was read as automatically compliant

A 473 millilitre bottle filled to 460 and labeled 473 is a net contents problem, not a standards of fill success.

The tolerance provision was overlooked

The tolerances in fill are the same as those allowed in respect to the statement of net contents on labels, which means the fill figure is not required to be exact to the millilitre.

And that cross-reference was not followed

What the tolerances are lives in another section and is not quoted here. Assuming a figure for them is the same error as inventing a character width.

Headspace was treated as free

Nearly 200 millilitres of air in a quart bottle is an oxidation problem in a fermented product and a presentation problem in clear glass, and nine of our fourteen are clear.

The 24 oz near miss was treated as a failure

709.764 against a 700 millilitre standard is under ten millilitres, which is inside ordinary fill practice. That one works.

A gallon was assumed to be available

3.785 litres sits in the dead zone between the 3 litre standard and the 4 litre even-litre allowance. It is not an authorized quantity.

And a quart was assumed to be on the list

It is not. 12 and 16 fluid ounces are, because they were added deliberately. 24 and 32 are not.

And the nominal capacity was compared to the wrong list

The twenty-five values are quantities of wine. Comparing a bottle's nominal capacity against them is a useful shortcut and it is not the test, which is what the label declares.

Check the fill, then pick the bottle

Which is the right order, because the fill is the regulated number and the bottle only has to accommodate it.

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.edu

The 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.

Written from 27 CFR 4.72 and 4.10 and from the catalog as it stood on 19 October 2026. The standards of fill regulate the quantity bottled rather than the bottle, so a non-standard container filled to a standard quantity is awkward rather than prohibited. Whether part 4 applies at all turns on the alcohol content of the product, which is not something a container catalog knows. Nothing here addresses bonded premises, formula approval, label approval, excise tax, net contents formatting, or state law. This catalog holds no crown cap, swing top, cork or champagne hood, so a sparkling product cannot be closed from it.