Ordering wine by bottle vs liter

When you order a liter or even a half liter of wine, the restaurant will be pouring the wine into a pitcher or carafe from its supply of "vino sfuso," or the wine it buys in quality, usually in a large container. So, no combining of wines from different bottles. The wines probably never will see the inside of a bottle, in fact. Enjoy your trip.

You can often get wine by the half liter, a good option for a couple. (At least, for this couple!) A carafe of wine may come in different sizes, from 1/4 liter to a full liter.

The carafe wines will be local, and usually very good. The only place in Italy we were not able to order wine by the carafe was in Milan; there our choices seemed to be by the glass or bottle. A canny waiter at our favorite restaurant showed us how a bottle was a better deal than 3 or 4 glasses, even if we didn't finish the bottle.

My husband and I usually order a 1/4 liter of house red for him and a 1/4 liter of house white for me, and it has always been good wine. He knows wines, I only "know what I like." I don't know what this is called, but we ask to see if the house wine is super-local (i.e. not just from the region), like from right around the town and it usually is. We (mostly me) also like to track down wine made solely from "indigenous" varieties of grapes, which may mean an old variety that was not suitable for commercial production for some reason and almost died out and then someone brought it back --- such wines are often by the bottle. Why? Just for fun and because I am a gardener. We eat at very un-fancy places, so I wouldn't know about how high-end places serve their wine.

it seems that you’d be getting part of an already opened bottle.

Other then unfair and slightly disgusting, it would be illegal since they couldn't tell what wine customers are buying. A Baroled-Chianti wouldn't sound right to locals' ears.

Since a liter is a bit more than a bottle it seems that you’d be getting part of an already opened bottle.

As others said, if they offer 250 ml, 500 ml, or liters, then the wine is coming from bulk sources, not a bottle. I can say that I have never had a bad wine when ordering this way, and the wine can be local...though yes, restaurants can, and do, buy what we would consider large boxes or containers of wine from national distributors.

If a place offers wine by the glass and bottle only, then yes, that glass is coming from an open bottle, but they usually limit "by the glass" choices to a few, so it moves quickly, about half the time they needed to open a bottle sometime during the meal to serve us.

In the US the "house wine" tends to be an inexpensive wine poured from multi-bottles of the same brand. In Europe, especially Italy, Spain, and France, the restaurants takes some pride in having a very good, bulk, house wine. Selection is often limited to one or two types of grapes. I have never been disappointed in a "house wine" in Europe. And often you can see the wine being drawn directly from a 55 liter barrel. Also, the wine stores often have the option of buying wine directly from a bulk barrel. In Europe it is rare for us to buy wine by bottle rather than a liter or half liter in the restaurant. You are not getting wine from split bottles.

Not all restaurants sell wine by the glass in Italy. It's either a carafe of house wine (they come in 1/4, 1/2, 1 Liter) or a bottle (including a 'bottiglia mignon' of 125, 250 or 375ml).

of the same brand

Oh, Rich meant of the same brand. This way his question makes more sense. It's not done but it wouldn't be "a little disgusting" as I wrongly assumed above.

No worries Dario, I did know what you meant. Thanks to everyone for their replies!

Rich,
Just don't order the Fragolino.
Tante belle cose.
I am done. the wink

We were in several grocery stores. One, the Eately chain, has a lot of wines. It also has bulk wine which is dispensed into containers by the liter. Italy is either the largest producer of wine in the world, or #2. They dispense a lot as bulk wine, and much is very good.

When in restaurants, I would glance at the wine list, but am far from a knowledgeable person about Italian wines. We would simply ask the waiter for his recommendation in a certain price range. Wine in Italy is far cheaper than in the USA - what you pay in the store in the US is close to what you pay in a restaurant in Italy (with the markup). You may wish to simplify your process in restaurants using that approach.

Besides Dario's disgust at the notion of pouring from a bottle, the number of bottles not finished in restaurants over a year can probably be counted on the fingers of one hand.

Depending on the level and type of restaurant, I'm often disappointed by the bottled wine list which may consist of a dozen choices selected solely because they are from different regions. Even in a humble place, however, the house wine in a carafe -vino della casa- may a good local wine with fresh qualities that one doesn't find in a bottled wine. If you skim the Italian reviews on the restaurant's Trip Advisor listing, you may well get a clue about which way to go.

Besides Dario's disgust at the notion of pouring from a bottle

If I was disgusted at the idea of pouring wine from a bottle, my liver would be 10 years younger.

I was a little disgusted at the idea of pouring wines from two brands into the same jug. Quite a silly idea now that I have understood what the OP meant.