Yahoo Finance More means less: why a magnum of wine can be ideal for weeknights
Across Australia, so many of us are staying at home right now. Although we might long for the day when we can gather around a table and open a great bottle of wine, for those in cities that are locked down, it could be a while.
In the meantime, you might try an alternative approach to enjoying wine at home: drinking a magnum over the course of several days, as you would with boxed wine.
A magnum is twice the size of a regular bottle, at 1.5 litres it contains around 16 glasses of wine. If it’s a quality wine from a reputable producer, once you’ve opened a magnum and poured yourself a glass or two, you can simply pop the cork back in – or, even better, stock up on a few cheap, versatile wine stoppers (we use these at home). Once you’ve closed the bottle properly, just place the wine in your fridge door for another night.
Among wine professionals, magnums are considered to keep wine fresher, because the wine ages more slowly in a large bottle. Josh Begbie, manager at Melbourne wine bar and restaurant Bar Liberty, feels that magnums are under-appreciated. “We often pour wines by the magnum at Bar Liberty, not just for the obvious theatrical reasons, but to see how oxygen interacts with some of our wines,” he says.
“A lot of the wines we serve, especially some that are made without any additional sulfur, love a bit of air and really come into their own on day two or three.”
Olivia Moore, owner of Adelaide’s LOC Wine Bar and Bottle Shop, sees magnums as ideal for a home-drinking environment. A magnum gives “a broad look at how the wine changes over time, which I love”.
Wines age more slowly over time due to the lower level of oxygen-to-wine-ratio in the bottle
Mike Bennie, PNV Wine and Liquor
During the South Australian lockdown, Moore opened a magnum-sized 2019 Jacopo Stigliano Hiraeth Rosato from Italy. At first, she drank it chilled, ringing out the wine’s refreshing character – but then she left it out at room temperature. When she came back to it the next day, exhausted from delivering food and wine across Adelaide and ready for a relaxing drink, she found the wine “softer, more rounded out – but still heaps of the fresh fruit was in there”.
Mike Bennie, owner of Sydney’s PNV Wine and Liquor, is “a big fan of getting to see the future life of a wine through the lens of magnums”. He says that, in magnum format, “wines age more slowly over time due to the lower level of oxygen-to-wine-ratio in the bottle, as compared to standard 750ml bottles”. He adds that magnums can essentially work as house wine, “a drink and don’t think too much option for wine consumption over a few days”.
A Perth wine professional, Olivia Bunny of Boatshed Wine Loft, agrees that the grand size “maintains and prolongs a wine’s vibrancy for longer once opened”. She has found that a large bottle, once opened “can last over a week and comes guilt-free, because I don’t need to rationalise opening a bottle when I only want a glass”.
It’s relaxing to know that a perfectly nice wine is already open, and that we can have a glass and simply return the bottle to the fridge for another night. In our house, we also like to open a magnum of white wine, have a glass of that, put it in the fridge, then switch to a red wine – the way you’d do in a restaurant if you were ordering by-the-glass. At home, it’s nice to figure out a way to make it classy.
Magnums are definitely a bit niche – the bottles themselves are more expensive, and they often need to be filled by hand. There’s also the fact that shipping them is very expensive – for all these reasons, as well as the generally low demand, producers tend not to offer large quantities of magnums in their release. That being said, here are a few excellent magnums from producers working organically and with minimal intervention to seek out at the moment.
Analog Fiano $60
Fiano is a white variety from the Campania region of southern Italy, known for nutty aromas and flavours of citrus and honey. This white wine by central Victorian winery Analog is tangy and light when you first open it, but becomes textured and savoury after some time.
2019 Scala “Cirò” Bianco $60
This pleasant white wine made of Greco di Tufo comes from Calabria, in southern Italy, and is made by Luigi Scala from his organic estate. If you’ve never had a wine from Calabria, you’re not alone – they aren’t common as exports – but Cirò is the best known wine region there, so it’s a great place to begin. Enjoy a glass alongside some anchovies on toast for a perfect start to your evening.
2019 Scintilla Wines Pinot Noir $74
Adelaide Hills producer James Madden turned to winemaking after running restaurants and managing wine programs in Melbourne and a harvest internship in southern France. He now works with organic vineyards and zero sulfite additions, making light and fresh wines that are outstanding with food or on their own. This Pinot Noir bears crunchy fruit, earthy undertones, and a note of sour cherry.
2020 Si Vintners “Baba Yaga” Rosé $80
Sarah Morris and Iwo Jakimowicz are leading organic winegrowers in Margaret River. This wine, an outside-the-box blend of skin-contact Sauvignon Blanc fermented with a small amount of Cabernet Sauvignon, is a surprising approach to rosé that allows notes of wildflowers and a rich palate to shine through.
2019 Cantina Giardino “Vino Rosato” Anfora $88
In Italy, “rosato” is a darker, more savoury style of pink wine. This one from a Campagnia winery based on high-elevation vineyards featuring local grapes is made in a clay pot called an amphora (anfora in Italian). It’s tart and refreshing with just a kiss of tannin, and easily paired alongside a weeknight roast chicken.
2017 Pierre Cotton Brouilly $122
The French appellation “Brouilly” is one of the 10 acclaimed hills in the Beaujolais region where notable, age-worthy Gamay wine is made. Pierre Cotton is a young, rising star in Beaujolais, known for producing juicy, aromatic wines that are bursting with red and black fruit flavours.
