I cellar only a few magnums, but have had the opportunity to taste wine from quite a few double mags, but recently had the experience of helping to deflower a Salmanazar (12 bb, 9 liters) of wine and believe that this was the largest bottle I have ever tasted wine from.
They look like this (and must be hard as heck to cellar, although dwarfed by the largest sizes, the Nebuchadnezzar, Melchior, and the Japanese Godzilla):
The wine we had was the 1981 Beringer Private Reserve Cab. It started off slowly but when it woke up after all those years in glass, it was delicious. And there was no shortage even with a host of 50 people celebrating a birthday - a dozen regular sized decanters making the rounds.
I did not witness the decanting, but you sure wouldn’t want that puppy to get away from you!
How many here have experienced bottles of that size or beyond?
Couple of additional notes - while many winemakers have told me that they consider the magnum to be the best size for extended aging I prefer single bottles as a magnum reduces the range of wine you can have at a dinner by one. And has anyone else experienced a non-standard bottle size - I have helped drink 4 bb of 1963 Crofts Port from an unusual 1.8 liter bottle size…(before you ask, that WAS on four separate occasions!)
I went to a friend’s birthday party last summer in St. George, Utah. He has been good friends with Dick Steltzner for many years, and had a 15-litre bottle of their 1997 Cabernet opened for the party. The cork took half an hour to take out, and another friend built a wooden cradle to help with the pouring. The staff at the restaurant poured the wine into several decanters. The wine was a lot of fun to drink!
My wife and I, on the other hand, have nothing larger than magnums.
The reason I don’t have more large format bottles is that I enjoy drinking wine in a social setting, more often than not with a dinner. Every magnum you open means one less single bottle you can open that night, and if one hauls out a double mag, it can mean you are just drinking one wine all night (though probably with a different wine to start and end the night). How much fun would that be…
Obviously this wouldn’t apply to you party animals that hold parties with a cast of …well, maybe dozens?
Bill. As you know I have a few magnums. I enjoy the opportunity to have a couple of glasses of the same wine over an hour or two at small gatherings or enough for everyone to get a taste at a party. This bottle was a special treat though.
1981 Beringer Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon Private Reserve- USA, California, Napa Valley (10/18/2018)
From a 9 litre bottle. Medium Dark red with brown edges, dark fruit, earth, mushrooms, herbs, smoke and coffee bean. Beautiful lively plum fruit mixed with smoke and earth flavours. Still some heft to the finish, almost a balance between tannins and acid.
Have three or four magnums and one double magnum, and do not plan to buy more unless it is a really unusual offering. I prefer to be able to open multiple bottles of different wines rather than one big bottle. Plus, if it is bad then that is 2+ wasted bottles rather than the likelihood of one being good and one being bad.
Guess that’s the downside of cellaring big formats - the anticipation is high and the disappointment if it tanks will be more than if you just ‘wasted’ one bottle.
David - agree on your note on the 81 Beringer. I think you missed my August lunch where I opened the 1992?
We have one 12L - a birth year wine for my stepson. That is our biggest.
I am of the opinion one can’t have enough magnums of champagne, and magnums of Riesling are such a fun shape, it’s hard not to love them. Other than that, I can take or leave large format.
I have one 3L and one 6L remaining but find anything over magnum size impractical. Like many have said, when you have occasion for 4+ bottles it is way more fun to have different wines. I have either sold or donated most of these big bottles.
A few magnums but nothing bigger, and nothing overly fancy amongst them. The intention is to drink most of them with friends who appreciate the format as a ‘special occasion’ in its own right.
I have 1 3L Duckhorn but several Magnums. I agree, they are not always easy to store and I only have limited room in my wine Fridge for large format bottles.
