Well, I have to disagree. Age more slowly is chemical fact due to the wine to air ratio as you note. Also wine to cork surface area*. In the same fashion, a colder cellar will slow down the aging process and a warmer cellar will speed it up. That is all just chemistry.
"Better" is an eye of the beholder thing. Take a 750ml and a 1500ml of the same vintage stored in the same conditions and drink them both at the same time ... which is better? Well, if the 750ml is at peak, the 1500ml will be younger and more vibrant, but not at peak. If the 1500ml is at peak, the 750ml will be over the hill. If you are in a hurry, smaller bottles and warmer cellars are a good thing. If you are not in a hurry and/or you like younger wines, then larger bottles and colder cellars are a good thing.
Larger bottles can be fun for special occasions ... although my own preference is to have more variety, not more quantity, unless the audience is large enough to reduce the larger bottle to a glass per person.
And I don't know about the transport either since there are lots of carriers available for the 750ml format and not for the larger formats which one thus mostly has to carry by hand.
As for the assumptions of quality, storage conditions, good year, etc., those are factors in the desirability of the result at any age and bottle size, not something specific to bottle size. |
