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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Lifestyle
Hannah Crosbie

Wine magnums aren’t just for Christmas – or even champagne

Lewis Hamilton, Toto Wolff, Mercedes-AMG, 2014 Abu Dhabi Grand PrixStanding on the winners podium wearing his logo adorned fire protection suit racing driver overalls and a Pirelli cap, smiling British Mercedes-AMG Formula One racing team racing driver Lewis Hamilton has champagne from a magnum bottle poured on his head by the Mercedes-AMG team principal, Austrian; Torger Christian 'Toto' Wolff in celebration of winning the race and the 2014 world drivers' championship in floodlit light at the 2014 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, Yas Marina Circuit, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, on the 23rd November 2014. (Photo by Darren Heath/Getty Images)
It is said Formula One driver Lewis Hamilton enjoys a magnum once in a while – and clearly not just at Christmas. Photograph: Darren Heath Photographer/Darren Heath/Getty Images

There are many reasons you may want to buy a magnum, and those reasons multiply and proliferate around this time of the year. Your usual night in with your partner becomes a party for six. Dinner with the family becomes an enormous pre-Christmas do, with thirsty adults and kids in the way everywhere. And watering the masses can get expensive, not to mention cumbersome.

I often recommend boxed wines for this specific quandary. I’ve written before about the joys of bag-in-box, but to give you the top line: it’s at least two bottles in a fridge-friendly box, and it stays good for up to six weeks. But if you prefer the allure of a glass bottle, and the idea of all attention in the room being drawn to what’s in your hand as you enter it, then a magnum might be a fun thing to unsheathe during the festivities, after the first cocktails have been sipped and glasses are empty.

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