How much wine in a magnum?

A magnum is 1.5 litres of wine — two regular bottles in one impressive package. But it's much more than a novelty size for dinner parties.

Here's why wine geeks love magnums: the cork and the air space beneath it (called ullage) are roughly the same size as in a standard bottle, but there's twice as much wine. This means the wine-to-oxygen ratio is much more favourable, and oxidation happens more slowly. The result? Wines age more gracefully in magnum, developing deeper complexity while retaining freshness.

Blind tastings consistently show that the same wine in magnum outperforms the standard bottle after a decade or more of ageing. It's not placebo — it's physics.

For Champagne, the magnum is considered the gold standard. The secondary fermentation (where bubbles form) happens under ideal conditions in a magnum, producing finer bubbles, creamier mousse, and longer-lasting fizz. Many Champagne houses release their prestige cuvées in magnum specifically for this reason.

Practically speaking, a magnum pours about 12 glasses (at a standard 125 ml pour), making it perfect for a dinner party of 4-6 people. It also makes a spectacular gift. The only downside: you'll need slightly wider storage racks — magnums are about 15% wider than standard bottles.

Fun fact: the naming convention for larger formats gets biblical. After the magnum comes the Jeroboam (3L in Bordeaux, 4.5L in Champagne), Methuselah (6L), Salmanazar (9L), Balthazar (12L), and Nebuchadnezzar (15L).