The French saying “prendre de la bouteille” literally means “to take from the bottle.” What it really means is to gain maturity, to acquire experience or to grow old. This expression was originally used for wine, which is something that improves with age.

It was then applied to anything that is capable of aging, including humans.

The English equivalent of this saying would be “to get some experience (or time) under one’s belt.”

It is not known when this saying first originated.