Treat your friends to a magnum this New Year's Eve

One of the best ways to make your friends feel they’re getting a special treat is to serve them a magnum - i.e. an extra-large bottle that contains two full bottles (1.5 litres) of wine. Many champagne houses have offered the option for years but an increasing number of other wine producers are realising that there’s a demand too.

On Christmas Day we served a magnum of Moet et Chandon 2000 (with smoked salmon) and a Chivite Coleccion 125 2000 from the Navarra region of Spain with the turkey. Both were drinking well but the ‘wow’ factor of having such impressive bottles on the table was the real thrill for our family and friends.

There’s another advantage to buying magnums. They almost always age better than comparable wines in a 75cl bottle. Because there is proportionately less air space in the bottle the wines tend to change less in character and age more slowly. This particularly benefits champagne. Moet is not a brand I’ve been particularly impressed by in the past but this bottle, from an memorable vintage, was a real cracker - gloriously rich and honeyed. My mother-in-law said it was the best champagne she’d ever tasted (so maximum brownie points there!)

The Coleccion 125, a contemporary blend of tempranillo, merlot and cabernet sauvignon was still vividly fruity and vibrant. It’s a wine that generally ages well but is even better in a large format as they call it in the trade.

The only drawback is that magnums tend to cost more if you buy them straight off the shelf because they’re a non-standard size and need time to come to their peak so the best plan is to buy them when they’re released and hang onto them for a few years. Because of their comparative scarcity they tend to be more in demand than standard bottles so you need to get your order in early, or in some cases, be a regular customer of the winery to get your allocation. Plan now for 2012!

* If you need to chill down a magnum make sure you think ahead. They can be tricky to fit into a fridge so make sure you have a large bucket and plenty of ice handy. (Iced water cools more efficiently than ice alone.)

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