Mine is just below %5, but if you add in bigger bottles (3L, 3.78L, 5L) it goes a little over 5%.
True, but I’d generally rather have two or three different wines. Or four. In a dinner group of four.
3 Likes
I find them a totally useless bottle size. You can’t open them with wine geeks because everybody will take their taste, move on to the next wine, and then half the magnum goes down the drain. You can’t open them with non-wine geeks because someone will go, “Omigod, there’s no way we’re going to drink all that wine!” and then half the magnum goes down the drain.
On very old bottles, magnums do seem to have an advantage holding on to freshness. But that’s not much of an advantage unless you have a cellar full of very old bottles. My cellar isn’t old enough for me to want my wines aging any slower than they already do.
Dare I say, there is also something inherently assholish about the format and the way some producers give their loyal customers a big F-U when they decide to bottle a particularly good or particularly rare wine only in magnum, as if to deliberately limit the number of people who can enjoy it and the occasions for doing so. What the world needs is more of those things in 375mls and 500mls.
5 Likes
Around 2000, I was at a party with about 20 people and only one other wine geek. I brought a mature 3L of Burgess Cab. People said “Omigod, there’s no way we’re going to drink all that wine!” but they did. And a few other bottles.
My friend Jared who posts here occasionally has a big July 4th party. Mags and 3L disappear quickly. Maybe you just don’t have enough friends. 
3 Likes
My friends must be bigger lushes than yours - Magnums usually go fairly well although I admit I did have one last year that didn’t quite get finished. It’s the Double Magnums that I will never buy again. Just never find an opportunity to drink them.
1 Like
I’ve never had a problem with mags not getting finished; usually they are gone before I’ve expected. I’d rather that happen than have 750s be gone before everyone gets to drink any.
1 Like
If you’re at an event where a magnum is easily consumed, you can, of course, accomplish the same effect with 2 x 750 bottles. Meanwhile the magnum introduces the downside of doubling down on the Russian roulette stakes of a corked bottle.
3 Likes
Our wine group has an annual “May Magnum Madness” dinner. One magnum per two persons. Allows more attendees and bigger pours. One of the most popular themes we do each year.
I get thru 3-5 magnum per year and have about 30 magnums. I seem to have no difficulty serving them (and finishing them) when there is a group of 6+ attendees.
I love magnums and so do most of our wine friends.
3 Likes
Much prefer magnums over half mags…. :wink
A bachelor friend had the perfect plan of opening a champagne mag on Sundays and having a glass and a half or so every evening through the week. My wife and I decided to try that but unsurprisingly finished the mag on the monday night.
6 Likes
Love them for events, Paulee-style dinners, or even just wine dinners with 8+ attendees. Yes you often end with waste but on the other hand it’s equally frustrating when it’s impossible to go back for a second pour on anything.
1 Like
I learned late in life that I need more magnums and I don’t need 4 to 6 people to open one. The other night a friend of my wife came over and a mag of Champagne with a 750 of burg was perfect to linger over a 4 to 5 hour dinner for the three of us.
2 Likes
0 magnums but a bunch of half bottles.
Perfect maybe if you like flat Champagne?
I usually have an event every year with 8 people and 3 Magnums plus a 750 or two. I have 22 magnums in my cellar and am buying a couple more this week.
I like big bottles and I cannot lie.
I have a lot of magnums, mostly Beaujolais, Bordeaux, champagne. Riesling magnums are beautiful baseball bats and underrated too because they are typically lower in abv, but I keep drinking them. I open a few magnums a year and no one seems to complain.
I also a few 3L (really fun with champagne) and even a 6L. 3L and bigger are hard to store, and haven’t opened any yet, but they make me happy and I impulsively (compulsively?) want more. A friend used to do an annual “3l” party where everyone is supposed to bring one to attend.
Biggest issue I have is storing the large bottles, particularly off-site. With the risk of thread drift, how does one maximize space when storing large (1.5 and 3L) bottles besides OWC when available?
that’s not a party. that’s just dinner
3 Likes
Fewer wines also makes it easier to talk about other things, rather than the evening devolving into an analytical tasting… Which I’m absolutely fine with, but which can narrow one’s social circle 
4 Likes
Unfortunately the “other things” tends to be current politics. I would rather talk about wine.
3 Likes
Love magnums. They’re perfect for dinner parties, especially larger ones.
3.4% but that’s still 111 bottles and a lone jeroboam of Fourrier CSJ that is going to Paulee NYC
I agree with @Andrew_K and others: magnums of champagne are a great way to open up a gathering.
I tend to open mags in bigger groups, but am persuaded by @Sarah_Kirschbaum. I see the attraction of sharing a big special bottle with a few people to allow room for appreciation and real conversation, as opposed to hubbub and the tyranny of the boldest, biggest (flavored) wine on a crowded table.
Most of my mags are Burgundy, and I’ve seen a couple times now how things that were open for business in a 750cc were still tight and closed in a magnum format (talkin’ to you 05 Dujac and 15 Trapet)
That has me reaching for 750s while the mags sleep. When I am old and in the way, I’ll bring the thunder and wow the young-uns…
I think mags make good ticket wines: they get you in the door for a nice tasting and prime the pump for sharing. That said, I am not opening them nearly fast enough, so come on down to the ATL Berserkers!