I think for that kind of price differential I’d always go with the mags. For some wines the mag price is like the same as 3-4 750s.
Haha, true true! You are pro!
So in April, my family will be up in the mountains for a week, and I actually have been planning on magnums for that occasion. There will be eight of us, so plenty to go around!
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Frogs Leap has the best sizing pricing: 375s are half the cost of 750s and mags are double.
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Yes, great for family gatherings. I always have several with some age and ready to go.
Any winemakers on the board care to expound on why the mags can be so much higher in price? I’m guessing the bottles are just that much more expensive since they’re a novelty item?
I mean sometimes you can find wines cheaper in magnum than 2 750s. I think the price discrepancy for magnums on the secondary market isn’t related to the producer but just scarcity. I doubt la tache magnums ex cellar are that much more than 750 but the mags on the secondary market are 4x the price.
To paraphrase Churchhill, “A magnum is the perfect size for two people to share over lunch, particularly if one isn’t drinking”.
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Not just the glass, but also the corks, labels, and labor involved in changing out mechanisms on the bottling line, storage space, etc. Whether or not that is all enough to directly correlate to the typical premium, I don’t know, but there is definitely more to it than we consumers tend to think about.
We’re a bit less than 5% in our cellar, the vast majority being mags, but we have a handful of double mags as well.
We were first inspired to buy mags by a couple in our blind tasting group who, on every 10th wedding anniversary, host a celebration and open nothing but magnums…Champagnes, Burgundies, Bordeaux, etc., to Port and Sauternes, all in magnum. The port is always a mag from their anniversary year- 1977. In addition to this, our group dinners are routinely 10-16 so mags make sense on those nights as well.
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When I sold bottles I always advised wineries to get more half bottles and fewer magnums.
In my own experience I find it difficult to use magnums unless there is a really big party. At a dinner party do you want a white and a red or one magnum??
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Repour saves the day. drink what you can and either transfer the rest to a 750ml and use a repour, or use the repour in the mag bottle. i love mags
We open mags often at dinner when there will be six to eight people. Perch Wine Co did a Amador County blend in mag for $40 that was perfect for an easy going meal with friends. Went through three of them way faster than I thought I would, will definitely buy again if they make it. Don’t get stuck thinking you should only by expensive wine in mags.
Love mags for large family gatherings. I do limit my purchasing to those which come at a modest premium over 2x750ml.
My best big bottle “premium” was a 3L of 1990 Banfi Brunello. I was just getting into wine and had no idea what I was going to do with such a big bottle, but the 750s had gone up in price at the distributor after a big WS score. My local store only had 750s from a reload at the new price, but still had a 3L for what was now effectively 3x750. Kept it for 20+ years and had it when we had 8 people around the table for my in-laws’ 50th anniversary. It was perfect. I’m looking at the empty on my home office shelf as I type.
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Or two reds!
Stopped buying mags a while back as I lost most of the opportunities to use them. Only open a couple a year, so I’m stocked for the foreseeable future.
I love magnums but rarely open them other than Champagne. I never have enough Champagne mags.
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Not many here, actually only 8. I never find the need to open one, nobody wants to drink the same wine all night.
*750ml - 98.1% Bottles (2,089) / Pending (71)
*375ml - 0.9% Bottles (19)
*500ml - 0.4% Bottles (8)
*1.5L - 0.4% Bottles (8)
*3.0L - 0.3% Bottles (6)
With a consumption rate of half a bottle per person over the course of an evening, a menu designed for one type of wine = perfect for four, or more.
Back when I was buying more Chateauneuf du Pape I was also buying more magnums. I often would take them to our annual Christmas Eve get-together hosted by my friends. They were a huge hit, especially with the young adult children, many of whom were just getting into wine. Many of those “kids” have since moved away, those annual get-togethers are much smaller, and I have significantly reduced my CdP purchasing.
I am now down to just 2 magnums of wine. One is a 2010 CdP I plan on opening this week, as my friends come over for some racks of lamb I plan on roasting. The other is a 2007 Barolo that I will open at some point. I’ve been giving some thought to purchasing some of the PGC magnums and hope to be around still to purchase a number of 2025 vintage magnums as “birth” wines for my one and only granddaughter who was born a month ago. That will be fun!
I’ll add that the past two years I’ve purchased a number of magnums of Champagne for my daughter. She’s still not drinking (is nursing, and quit drinking when she learned she was pregnant last year), but I plan on continuing those purchases. 
To quote Russell From, proprietor/founder/winemaker Herman Story, “nothing parties like a magnum”. To be serious, we buy magnums whenever possible of special wine for special occasions. Special occasions are usually family events. Now all we have to do is start enjoying them.
Although I picked up a mag as part of an auction lot last year, the last time I bought one specifically was 2016. I consume about 1 a year (usually at Thanksgiving). Doubt I’ll buy any more.