Today we raise a glass to glass, and those wineries that practice restraint in their packaging. I just opened a wine shipment with bottles that have to weigh 5 pounds each. Why, why are these bottles so heavy? Is the wine inside any better than the wine inside a bottle weighing half or a third as much?

I feel compelled to set the record straight as I believe there may be a perception that a heavier bottle means the wine inside is of premium quality. Yes, the wine may be very good, but in reality, not necessarily any better than any other.

I could understand the logic of the heavy bottle if, say, it was a wine that is meant to be aged, as these bottles are also often quite dark in color and hold robust red wines with bold tannins that need years to soften. However, these wines (like…