Goliath (27 L)
Thirty-six-bottle Champagne size.
What is Goliath (27 L)? Goliath (27 L) is a large-format Champagne and wine bottle holding exactly 27 litres, the equivalent of 36 standard 750 ml bottles. The same format is also sold under the name Primat, with both names belonging to the Champagne tradition of giving oversized bottles biblical or noble titles. Named after the Philistine giant slain by David, the Goliath sits among the rarest commercially produced formats, typically reserved for prestige cuvées and headline-grade celebrations. While most closely associated with Champagne, the 27 L bottle occasionally appears in Bordeaux and Burgundy for top-tier releases.
Format and Construction
At 27 litres, the Goliath measures roughly 100 cm tall and around 26 cm in diameter, weighing about 65 kg (~143 lb) when full. To withstand the internal pressure of Champagne, which sits near 6 bar (about 90 psi), the bottle is thick-walled and wide, with a pronounced punt and sloping shoulders. These structural features are not stylistic — they are what make a vessel of this size safe to handle and store under sparkling-wine pressure.
Within the large-format hierarchy, the Goliath sits between the Melchior (18 L / 24 bottles) and the Melchizedek, sometimes called the Midas (30 L / 40 bottles). It shares its 'Primat' alias with Late Latin prīmās, meaning chief or noble, mirroring the grandeur expected of bottles at this scale.
Production and Use
The Goliath is one of the rarest commercially produced bottle sizes. Most major Champagne houses only fill it to order, and not every house offers the format at all. For Champagne specifically, secondary fermentation in-bottle at 27 litres is impractical, so the wine is typically aged in standard 750 ml bottles and then carefully transferred or finished separately into the Goliath before release.
In service, a single Goliath pours roughly 180 standard 150 ml glasses, and well over 250 Champagne flutes when poured more delicately. That capacity makes it a centrepiece bottle for weddings, anniversaries, gala dinners, and trophy moments where the bottle itself becomes part of the spectacle. Handling requires planning: at 65 kg full, pouring is almost always a two-person job, and many venues use a cradle or stand.
