Wine magnums aren’t just for Christmas – or even champagne

There are solid scientific reasons for bottling wine in a magnum and others that aren’t – one of which being that they are simply great fun

There are many reasons you may want to buy a magnum, and those reasons multiply and proliferate around this time of the year. Your usual night in with your partner becomes a party for six. Dinner with the family becomes an enormous pre-Christmas do, with thirsty adults and kids in the way everywhere. And watering the masses can get expensive, not to mention cumbersome.

I often recommend boxed wines for this specific quandary. I’ve written before about the joys of bag-in-box, but to give you the top line: it’s at least two bottles in a fridge-friendly box, and it stays good for up to six weeks. But if you prefer the allure of a glass bottle, and the idea of all attention in the room being drawn to what’s in your hand as you enter it, then a magnum might be a fun thing to unsheathe during the festivities, after the first cocktails have been sipped and glasses are empty.

At one and a half litres, a magnum is simply twice the size of a regular 750ml bottle, but the closure (ie, the entrance to the bottle) is the same size as a regular one, which means that less oxygen gets into the wine. Many wine lovers say this works wonders on the liquid inside. I asked Sandia Chang, co-founder of the two Michelin-starred Kitchen Table in London, about serving from a magnum – does she believe the wines are better? “The ratio of wine to oxygen is much less in a magnum, so any ageing that the wine has under cork is slower and more gentle.”

What’s the science behind this? Well, because it has the same size of closure as a regular bottle, the wine-to-ullage (that is, the air under the cork) ratio is significantly less. Air is key to the development and aging of a wine, which is why we decant bottles and serve them in expensive glasses with wide bowls to help us really taste it. And the less air there is in the bottle to interact with the wine, the slower its evolution and development.

That’s not to say all magnums are created with the intention of ageing; there are plenty of fresh, fruity wines and simple sparklings bottled in magnum that are designed to be drunk right this minute. A magnum of Provençal rosé, for instance, is most likely about the spectacle, rather than the promise of an old wine.

As the owner of grower champagne specialist Bubbleshop, I assume Chang’s favourite wine to serve by the magnum is champagne, but I’m wrong: “My favourite is actually riesling,” she tells me. “Traditional riesling bottles are taller and more narrow, meaning a magnum can be strikingly tall. It feels more playful and it’s just fun!”

Four magnums to get you in the mood

La Gioiosa Prosecco Rosé DOC £22 Majestic, 10.5%. A high-street prosecco that I actually enjoy: all bright strawberry and a persistent mousse.

Cristóbal 1492 Malbec £35 Tanners Wine Merchants, 13.5%. A classically presented Argentinian malbec with plump, red plum and spice from oak ageing. It even comes in a gifting case!

Berry Bros & Rudd Good Ordinary Claret by Dourthe 2020 £28.50, 14.5%. An icon for a reason: outrageous-value bordeaux, especially en magnum.

Weingut Wess Kremstal Reserve Old Vine Riesling 2023 £59 The Wine Society, 12.5%. A towering Austrian riesling brimming with flowers and spice.