the biggest bottle that got away—86 Ramonet Montrachet remains the greatest white of my life. So I jumped on a 3.0 of that wine. A couple years later, I was nervous about such an expensive wine in the cellar and sold it for $3000. And read recently that a 1.5 of the same wine sold for $12,000. That jeroboam must be worth almost $30,000. Crazy.
I have many large format wines. Two years ago a 6L opened for a fundraiser I was throwing was hideously tainted and I sat gobsmacked by my misfortune . I opened another 6L which was perfect and others happily drank the corked wine. They loved it even while I shared with them the correct wine from the other 6L bottle. I remained devastated by the corked 6L and than by how unaffected the party goers were by the corked wine they were happily drinking.
I have one 3L a DeMoor Chablis and a bunch of magnums
Jay - I am salivating just looking at that bottle of Raymond-Lafon!
Alan W., I have nothing that is worth that much money, but the wines that I have that have appreciated significantly (e.g. 1985 Sassicaia) I try to regard as being worth what I paid for them ($35) not what they are worth today ($2-3K). I intend to drink them all, not sell them, although I am currently selling off some Grange that I co-own as it just isn’t the sort of wine I really enjoy any more - we’ll convert it to a half case of something really interesting.
Alan S - big bottles are indeed a lot of eggs in one basket and if those eggs go bad… A local store had several large format Yquems for sale. But would you buy a double mag of Yquem that had stood upright in a normal temperature shop for 15 or 20 years…
A hedge fund manager friend who collected large format wines and opened them at his annual party.
A couple of hundred people and a dozen Imperials. It was pretty impressive. I went to one and there was an amazing Pichon Lalande 1983.
I believe in mags and have a small collection of winners. I find them ideal at wine dinners for 6-8, enabling other wines to be enjoyed as well.
Alan, I had the great pleasure of drinking the 1986 Ramonet several times from both bottle and mag and I agree. The 1986 Batard was also stellar, perhaps due to the declassified barrel of Montrachet they blended. I got hooked originally with the 1982 Montrachet.
This thread needs a poll !!! Several 3L for me.
I’ve got a variety of mags, and always like to have some of Champagne on hand. I’ve been really tempted to get a big bottle of good Bordeaux, because the bottles look so cool, but then pragmatism gets the best of me.
I do have one 3L bottle of Chablis in a nice OWC, which is my biggest. I bought it because it was cool and much less expensive than a fine Bordeaux!
I also have this interesting duo of mags, a 1982 Freemark Abbey cab and a 1987 Corison. Cathy Corison was one of the first women winemakers in the valley, and I love her wines. She started her career at Freemark Abbey in the late 70’s. Drinking California cabs in college in the early 80’s was what really got me interested in wine, and the late 70’s vintages of Freemark Abbey were among those that grabbed my taste buds. A few years back, I sent a picture to Cathy from a dinner we had with a '78 Freemark cab I bought from the winery library and a 1989 Corison cab, along with some fine Bordeaux (this picture is in my profile). She liked the story and shared the picture on their Facebook page, and offered the signed '87 mag for purchase at a modest price with the other items I was ordering. 1987 was her first vintage, so it’s kind of a cool bottle and a reminder of my wine journey.
We always keep mags of bubbles on hand, especially thru the holidays. As far as other’s varietals go in large format’s, I stick to cab/Bordeaux since that is our drinking preference and we’ll be likely keeping them for a long while.
I view many of the large format bottles as display pieces, since they are more prominently displayed in our cellar, so I’ll try and make sure that we’re selective about what we buy.
How do people store the formats that are 3L+? Laid down or sitting up? Laying them down is a storage nightmare for multiple bottles. Sitting upright is fun for viewing.
Have some 18L La Chapelles, 00/01/03 and a 12 L of 89 Ramonet Montrachet( probably use for charity ). Used lots of 6L and 3L for my 50th and 60th birthday celebrations and a 9L of 1900 Leoville Poyferre ( late release ). I love opening large formats with friends and family,although when its a problem bottle, its a big problem. Had a corked 6L of '59 Latour for my 50th that was devastating.
No kidding, for sure.
A corked 1959 Latour 6L? OMG my problems are trivial.
I have a few 6Ls that my ten-yr-old refers to as “the big boys”. WTF was I thinking? Well, a few years ago I had a proper cellar for the first time in my life and Brown Derby was just giving them away, so I couldn’t resist. I plan to give away all of them to charity auctions except for one Chasse Spleen 2000, which I think would be fun for a big crowd.
I have a couple dozen 3Ls, which are “somewhat” more practical. One I especially look forward to popping is a Montille corton charlemagne with lobsters and a big crowd of family and friends on Cape Cod. Maybe next Summer.