From ancient Egypt to Greece and China, civilizations have produced their own wines with local ingredients fir generations. Back then, clay vessels and oak barrels were the best ways to transport the precious liquid. Today, we’ve turned to our standard glass wine bottles to transport (and more importantly protect) the ‘nectar of the gods.’
Our wine glass has even gotten bigger as our appetites for wine have increased, but let’s be honest with ourselves: how many bottles of opened, unfinished wine do you have at home? Did you open one after a hard work day because a glass of wine was the perfect way to relax? Or maybe a friend came over, but you still couldn’t finish the whole bottle?
Usual Wines has designed a single-serving wine bottle ideal for said evenings—it’s about a quarter of a typical full-sized bottle, but slightly larger than the average pour of a glass of wine at a restaurant. Industrial designer, Karim Rashid designed the bottle, explaining, “With Usual’s wine-by-the-glass approach, I wanted to design a simple form belying the complex flavor of the wine within. The goal was to preserve the nuanced flavor of the wine, while reinventing the traditional wine bottle typology.”
“It is a single-serving size: portable, shareable, and easy to distribute. Usual Wines elevates the everyday moments, which is what I seek to do every day through design. Sleek and sophisticated, the eye-catching conical shape is pure geometry, communicating efficiently. Form and function are inseparable, so the bottle’s size determines its shape; it is easy to hold and elegant to display.”
At the moment, only a red blend and a rosé blend, are available for purchase, but here’s to hoping a white comes out soon, just in time for spring.