Magnums, baby

So it happened. I visited a winery with some friends last weekend and came back with a magnum. We organised a dinner to pop the beauty and are now sucker for magnums. I have already screened shops near me for magnums and have gathered a small list of finds. I’d like you to help me single out few interesting bottles to be be popped at future dinners with friends.

Here’s the list:

2015 Bouvet Saphir Brut 50,00 A$
NV Vilmart Grand Reserve 150,00 A$
NV Andre Clouet Grand Reserve 165,00 A$
NV Andre Clouet Silver Brut 165,00 A$
NV Andre Clouet Rose No.3 190,00 A$
NV Lamandier-Bernier Longitude Blanc de Blancs 210,00 A$

2018 Triennes Rose 53,00 A$
2018 AIX Saint AIX Dry Rose 70,00 A$
2016 Burklin-Wolf Wachenheimer Riesling Trocken 70,00 A$
2018 Koehler-Ruprecht Kallstadter Kabinett Trocken 75,00 A$
2018 Donnhoff Estate Riesling Trocken 83,00 A$
2017 Cloudy Bay Sauvignon Blanc 90,00 A$
2017 Dr Loosen Bernkasteler Lay Riesling Kabinett 100,00 A$
2018 Shaw & Smith M3 Chardonnay 115,00 A$

2018 Torbreck Woodcutter’s Shiraz 60,00 A$
2018 Metrat Fleurie 75,00 A$
2018 Julien Pilon Syrah De L’Autre River 78,00 A$
2018 Chateau Yvonn Saumur-Champigny La Folie 85,00 A$
2016 Isole e Olena Chianti Classico 100,00 A$
2018 Daniel Bouland Morgon Corcelette VV 108,00 A$
2016 Vietti Nebbiolo Perbacco 110,00 A$
2016 Faiveley Clos des Myglands 1er 130,00 A$
2018 Marcel Lapierre Morgon Cuvee Tradition 130,00 A$
2018 Julien Pilon Saint-Joseph 134,00 A$
2016 Faiveley Clos de Roy 1er 145,00 A$

I’m mainly looking at good QPR. Producers I’m not familiar with and would like some info on: Chateau Yvonne, Julien Pinon, & Koehler-Ruprecht. I need some guidance on the Rieslings too - I’d like to try a Kabinett but not sure if the Dr Loosen is worth the price premium versus the other trockens.

Welcome to the magnum club. We love opening magnums for family events.

Riesling magnums are awesome, you can give them to kids to turn into rocketships afterwards, and they are so long you can pour them and maintain proper social distancing.

Beaujolais Maggies are the best. The Bouland, Metras and Lapierre are all easy buys and not painful on the wallet. Excellent for large dinner parties and holidays. The Donnhoff Troken is almost always very good. A regular buy for me.

Thanks Robert. Any ideas for food pairings with dry Riesling? And what do you like your Beaujolais with?

Champagne is the greatest use of the magnum format. Magnums of champagne are nearly always better than 750s, sometimes much better. If I could buy 90% of my champagne in mags, I probably would.

Honestly, Beaujolais goes with almost everything, I personally think it is the most versatile red wine made. I pair it often with chicken dishes, grilled salmon, pork, and really great with Thanksgiving turkey dinner. The trocken is killer with oysters! I like it with fresh crabs as well.

I really like Andre Clouet. Loved the Clouet Rose Magnum a person brought to an offline last year.

Argyle sparkler magnums.

Second vote for the Beaujolais, all three would be a crowd pleaser.

+1 on the Beaujolais.

And that 2016 Isole e Olena is pretty nice wine for the price, too.

I don’t think you can go wrong with the Longitude. I’ve beat this horse dead on this forum (not en magnum though), I have a few mags in the cellar and at $100 US i think they’re a steal. They’re not really meant to age which maybe takes away a little bit of the value of the mag format but I think they’ll go at least 3-5 years no problem.

If you can get Vilmart for less than Clouet, that seems like a good mag to have. I agree with the others on the Beaujolais, too.

Love mags. went through one last night of a CVNE rioja, and it was so much fun we are about to dive into a 2008 vina ardanza mag tonight. Fathers day weekend = magnums every day.

I’ve heard that Champagne is best in magnums, but why is that? Better second fermentation because of more liquid/space?

Everyone: your plead to Beaujolais will be heard, I will pop one at the next dinner!

Apologies in advance for the derailment: I don’t usually buy magnums because they’re not an easy fit at my table (we’re usually not that many, and prefer to open two 750ml for variety’s sake), but if I had a better pretext for it, I’d be buying magnums from Caves de São João rather than the 750ml bottles I have. CSJ are the oldest active Bairrada based wine producer, with holdings in the Dão region as well, and starting in the mid 20th century they deliberately initiated a policy of producing a lot of age worthy wine for future generations, which they’ve been cellaring impeccably ever since. These are mostly reds from Bordeaux grapes and whites from traditional Portuguese grapes such as Arinto. The 1988 Arinto was one of the great wine experiences of my life, and just the other week I had a 1990 Caves de São João Reserva (red) which felt like it was still an infant. Eric Ifune has mentioned hand carrying magnums out of the Caves. The wines are scandalously cheap for their quality, and I imagine that in a 1.5L format they must be even more youthful and vibrant.

Tomas,

I’d love to try Caves de São João but a quick research gave me no sign of them being imported in Australia. Unfortunately, only a fraction of what is available in the EU makes it down under.

I’m sure someone can answer this from a scientific perspective better than I can, but my understanding is that the proportion of oxygen that gets into the bottle during disgorgement is half that compared to a standard bottle, leading to more finesse and freshness as it ages.

My experience certainly bears out this common wisdom. I should point out, though, that I haven’t had enough d-mags+ to know if there’s a point of diminishing returns.

get busy. More seriously, I remember that it has something to do with how larger format champagne is done—pouring 750s into the larger bottles—whereas champagne mags are raised in that bottle (tirage, I believe is the term).