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Giant roadside champagne bottles go back nearly 100 years.
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Ever wonder what this bottle is doing here?
If you’ve visited the Atlantic City area via roads other than the Garden State Parkway or the Atlantic City Expressway, you may have seen giant champagne bottles along the road.
There’s one in Hammonton on U.S. Route 30 and one in New Gretna on U.S. Route 9. The “main” one is on Route 30 in at the Egg Harbor City-Galloway Township border at the intersection that leads the way to Renault Winery, a mile to the North.
It’s obvious that the giant bottle near the winery serves as a billboard. It is the best kept of dozens that existed many years ago around the country. Meanwhile, the bottle in New Gretna is probably the worst kept from a Renault perspective (not that they really care) because it is painted entirely white and serves, now, as nothing more than a curiosity.
A website devoted to giant bottles (yes, there's a website for everything) reports that there were 80 of these bottles at one time, produced in the 1920 to promote Renault which claims to be the oldest continuously-operating winery in America. They achieved this status by producing a wine “tonic” during prohibition.
It is believed that across the country, several of these bottle have survived, i.e. one in Iowa---can anyone report a siting?
Now, if only we could find champagne this size for New Year's Eve; what a party it would be!
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