the wine for your next magnum party

Oversized bottles offer many wonderful attributes. To begin with, many of the larger sizes have etched and hand painted labels, which makes their appearance both exciting and compelling and will leave a lasting impression on your guests. They are excellent to purchase from birth and anniversary years to be opened on future milestone celebrations. As well, the finished bottle will serve as a great conversation piece and a constant reminder of joyful times. There are very few produced which makes them well sought after and highly collectable.

The practice of producing wine in bigger bottles originated with the Champagne Cellars of France where the wine is given a secondary fermentation within the bottle and aged with the spent fermentation yeasts to create the delicate bubbles and the subtle flavors of fine sparkling wine. Over the years, the bottles have been given names: the low necked bottles of Champagne and Burgundy were attached to nine biblical kings (Salmanzar, Methuselah, Nebuchadnezzar, etc.) while the high shouldered bottles of Bordeaux were named after artillery shells (Magnum, Double Magnum and Imperial). 

The different sized bottles will age the wine at a very different rate. The air pocket between the wine and the cork is called ullage. With all the various bottle sizes the ullage is fairly consistent, bringing a smaller air to wine ratio which makes for a slower rate ageing. The result of this added time in the bottle, much like the time in the barrel, is the added development of aroma, flavor and texture. A large bottle stored in ideal conditions and be held for 20, 30, 40 years and more.

Big bottles offer wonderful protection for the wine. The thick glass needed to keep the larger volume will keep out more of the ultraviolet light that can damage the wine. As well, the volume of liquid will slow down any change of temperature that often acts adversely to smaller and standard sized bottles. The larger bottles are sealed by hand with custom made cork and are usually finished with wax which protects the bottle from leakage oxidation.

Here at Vine Cliff, the majority of our wine is bottled in the standard bottle (.750 liters). However, we reserve a small amount of our Oakville Estate and Private Stock Cabernet Sauvignon to be bottled in Magnum (1.5 Liter), Double Magnum (3.0 Liter) and Imperial (6.0 Liter) bottles. In past years, we have also bottled 9.0 liter (which is equivalent to a case of standard bottles), 18.0 liter (two cases) and 27.0 liter (three cases) bottles and have been known to open them for events held for our wine club members.

Please call Vine Cliff at 707-944-1364 or email info@vinecliff.com to discover other large format bottles in great vintages that may not be on our cart.