Michael Madrigale's Top 5 Magnums

01

2004 Giacomo Conterno Monfortino Barolo

1995 Moët & Chandon Dom Pérignon

2009 Chateau La Conseillante

2010 Domaine François Raveneau Chablis Montée de Tonnerre

2011 Rousseau Gevrey-Chambertin Clos St. Jacques

2004 Giacomo Conterno Monfortino Barolo
$900–$1,200/magnum

“This may be the best Barolo ever made,” Madrigale says. “Monfortino is top of the food chain in Italian wine and the 2004 was a cool vintage, a classic vintage, that’s really built to last. Barolo has gone through a wave of modernization and now a lot of them are like California wine—oaky and extracted. A lot of those are good, but they’re not the old-school style that I love. Pop it in 25 years.”

1995 Moët & Chandon Dom Pérignon
$1,000–$1,400/jeroboam

Sometimes, even a magnum is not enough for Madrigale: “I imagine myself in 20 years, having a big celebration, and nothing can evoke a celebration better than a really large-format, aged bottle of Champagne. You can’t beat the track record of the luxury cuvées from the big houses. And the jeroboam is the best size.” Big (four standard bottles). More impressive than a magnum. And you can pour directly from the bottle.

2009 Chateau La Conseillante
$220–$300/magnum

This Pomerol, made with 80 percent Merlot and 20 percent Cabernet Franc, is a benchmark red wine, and Madrigale calls the 2009 Bordeaux superb. “You get these really silky softer flavors and textures, and the Cabernet Franc gives it this amazing eucalyptus freshness. The 2009 is a nice ripe vintage and the Right Bank does well in ripe vintages. Keep it 25 to 50 years—that’s what they deserve.”

2010 Domaine François Raveneau Chablis Montée de Tonnerre
$300–$400/magnum

“If I had a million dollars to buy wine,” Madrigale says, “Chablis Raveneau Grand Cru is the first thing I’d buy and I’d buy a ton of it. I’d be buying it for days.” This transcendent Chardonnay has “rich texture but is extremely mineral and stony, and extremely fresh. With age, they make you hallucinate, they are so incredible. One of the great wines of the world.”

2011 Rousseau Gevrey-Chambertin Clos St. Jacques
$700–$900/magnum

This is the insiders’ pick: a Premier Cru Burgundy on the level of a Grand Cru wine. “A lot of people overlook it,” Madrigale says of this Pinot Noir grown on a rocky slope. “But Clos St. Jacques is a great vineyard. The wine is airy and almost weightless, but really powerful at the same time—almost like a magic trick. I don’t think you should crack any Rousseaus for 30 years. So, 2041? It’ll be great.”