Size does matter

Most good things in life come in small packages!
There is an exception to that rule, the bottle format is one of those; in that case the bigger the better. There are several different reasons why a wine will sit better in bigger bottles, one is the fact that the wine will take more time to develop as the size of the bottle increase. Other reason is that usually a selection of the best wine goes into larger formats. The largest bottle I'd personally drank from was a Melchior; the equivalent of 24 bottles in one, it was a Felsina Fontalloro 1997 that we drank during the World Cup Final game against France, the wine was different more complex with stronger peppery notes and a depth that I haven' t experienced from the regular sized bottles of the vintage. Big bottles are very desirable within the collectors for the longevity that the size will guarantee, for the higher quality of the wine inside it and because larger formats will increase the value quicker and for longer than regular bottles. These factors in combination with the small amounts that every producer dedicate to the larger sizes makes the price rise. That's why most of the time the price of a magnum is more than twice the price of a regular bottle, I'm not referring obviously at the so called "bottiglioni" used for the house pour in most restaurants and bars which follow a different path price wise. Personally I like to drink from big bottles also to satisfy a primitive instinct of opulence and decadence, I also believe that it is a more "social" size that gives the opportunity to a bigger group of people to share wine from the same bottle, it will also make a big impression on others, try to show up with a 5 liter at a party and see for how long people will remember you.
Buona Bevuta a Tutti