Why You Should Be Sharing Big Bottles for the Big Moments in Life

I’m about to hit send on the evite to my annual wine BIG Bottle Party, and I keep asking myself, “Why am waiting a year to uncork wines in large format?” There are so many milestones that happen in our lives each year—making it to Friday after a rough work week is often worthy of a magnum too—but we often forget to plan ahead and buy a big bottle. Grabbing a couple 750mLs at the grocery store or a local shop on our way to a party is about all the spare time we’ve got. We wine lovers should unite and pledge to bring a big bottle every time we gather with a group of four or more people to celebrate a special moment. After the last few years, we’ve earned the indulgence—and the bragging rights. Here are five reasons why you should be sharing bottle bottles for big moments in life.

Big Bottles Bring the Wow Factor

At Jordan, we’re known for throwing a big bottle party or two and guests never grow tired of watching the energy and excitement spread through the crowd. Everyone loves to hold a big bottle, be poured from a big bottle, try to pour wine from a big bottle, sign a big bottle—you name it. The photo opportunities are endless. You may not make it through the door without a selfie or two because walking in with a 3-liter bottle turns heads, but a cloth bag filled with four bottles of wine—the same amount—does not. Big bottles can be displayed in a central location for anticipation and double as event décor.

Big Bottles Make a Great Guestbook Idea

There’s nothing wrong with an old-fashioned guestbook, but we are living in the time of do it for the gram. Having wedding reception or anniversary party guests sign a big bottle of wine in lieu of a book sets a fun and festive tone right from the start. You and your guests can enjoy uncorking that bottle later in the evening and sharing a special toast. The bottle can be taken home as a keepsake. Empty signed bottles double as décor at my house, a frequent reminder of how much those special occasions (and the names on the bottles) mean to me.

Big Bottles Create More Memories During Big Moments

Whenever there’s a toast involved with more than four people, a big bottle should be there. There are obvious special occasions for bringing big bottles of wine, and other unexpected ones worth considering. Holiday gatherings around Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s tend to get more big bottle love, but bringing a magnum or bigger for an impromptu toast or gift to other special occasions creates memories that will last years to come. For an unexpected wedding gift, bring a big bottle from the year the couple met—their wedding vintage won’t be in bottle yet—but big bottles make wonderful anniversary party gifts too. You can make the wine more meaningful by choosing a year they met, got married, had a baby, you became friends, etc. Celebrating the birth of a child with wine will come with time—Mom probably won’t be ready to raise a glass of Jordan Cabernet Sauvignon from her hospital bed—but giving the parent their child’s birth year wine once it’s been released or giving the birth year wine to someone as a 21st birthday gift is something that will be cherished. College graduation parties bring lots of family together, and recent grads will truly appreciate uncorking a big bottle from a milestone year in their life—and a toast to the next chapter. Have a big family? Big as in more than four people? Magnums are a great gift idea to uncork on Mother’s Day or Father’s Day too. Hosting a going away party at work? Ask the boss to spring for a big bottle to share instead of a gift certificate and a greeting card. Everyone can sign the bottle with a special farewell message to the co-worker. Bringing a big bottle to a company holiday lunch or dinner for your team, if your company allows alcohol at such functions, says thank you to your staff on an unexpected level.

Serving a Big Bottle of Wine is Easy Math

Trying to figure out how many big bottles to buy for a party might seem intimidating, but the math is easy. The most common big bottles of wine are double the size of their smaller counterpart. A standard wine bottle is 750mL, which contains four full glasses of wine. A magnum big bottle is two 750mLs (1.5 liters), so eight glasses of wine. The next big bottle is called a Jeroboam or double magnum, and it is 3 liters (two magnums of wine inside, or 16 glasses). A 6-liter Imperial bottle contains two double magnums, or 32 glasses of wine. Jordan Winery created a handy Big Bottle Party Planner Wine Serving Guide to make the math even easier for you. They’ve calculated how many bottles you’ll need based on whether your special event is a reception or a dinner and how many hours guests will be sipping. Jordan is one of the few wineries that has been producing big bottles of its silky Alexander Valley cabernet sauvignon since the late 1970s, and they still bottle magnums, double magnums and imperials every year for big bottle lovers. Vintages back to 2002 are available to purchase in the online shop’s large-format wine section, and limited quantities of older vintages may be available to purchase by emailing the winery.

Wines Age Longer in Big Bottles

If you’d like to open a vintage from a milestone year in the past, such as a 25th wedding anniversary or a 40th birthday, big bottles are always the better bet. Why? The larger the wine bottle, the longer it will age. Small amounts of oxygen inside the bottle make the wine age and flavors evolve. Big bottles of wine hold less oxygen between the cork and the fill line of wine inside the bottle, so they will age at a slower rate than small bottles. Magnums, in theory, should live twice as long as a standard 750mL. Standard wine bottles, especially if not stored properly or aged with a quality cork, may be over the hill 20-25 years after their vintage date. That’s why is always best to purchase a big bottle of old wine from a reputable source, such as direct from the winery or from a respected wine shop, who has stored the bottle under ideal conditions for many years. Be sure to browse Jordan’s collection of big bottles on their website’s online shop.