My point here is that we have two different issues. One is chemistry, one is perception or what it is one wants to accomplish.
A very cold cellar doesn't make for better aging, it just makes the aging take longer. So, if I am interested in tasting my wines any time soon, I sure won't cellar them at 35°. Too be sure, this isn't a simple turn the knob and the exact same thing happens at a different pace, but a lot of it is if one keeps within normal ranges. I.e., nothing wrong with a 60° cellar if one recognizes that wines will age noticeably faster there than in a 50° cellar. To me, that is a good thing because I would like to get to the aged wine sooner rather than later. But, if one had a lot of wine that one didn't expect to age particularly well, one might want to keep it in a really cold cellar to slow it down.
As to the original question, I thought that was answered by "market". If you buy a new magnum from a current vintage, you are likely to pay more for it than double the 750ml price. But, on the collector's market, it is entirely a question of what people want more. There is nothing about the contents of a $6000 of wine that make it actually worth $6000, i.e., it is not 300 times better than a $20 bottle. It is simply worth $6000 because someone is willing to pay that much to own it. Apparently, there is less market for the magnum size in this case. |
