SMALL IS GOOD

I opened a 375ml bottle of Penfolds Bin 28 Kalimna Shiraz 2006 last night. I expected it to be good and wasn't disappointed. This is seriously good wine and has been consistently so for many vintages. If there is dumbing down of it (which is to be expected under the new ownership regime and the heavy discounting of the brand) it has not yet ruined it.
The reason I bought a case of this wine and the reason I opened it last night, apart from its pedigree and my appreciation of it, was the fact that it is in a 375 ml format (half bottle). Unfortunately these are becoming very rare. Most wine companies have discontinued the practice of bottling some of their production into either magnums (2 bottle size) or half bottles. This is not because of quality considerations (although half bottles do age quicker than full bottles but magnums age more gracefully than 750 ml bottles) but due to cost considerations. A half bottle cannot be just half the price of a full bottle. The bottle can cost the same as will the cork, capsule, labels and cartons. Sensible consumers realise this and will pay the extra. The new power that retailers have now is the problem. They feel that their customers won't pay more than half the normal price of a bottle (have they asked them?) and so won't stock the smaller bottles. They have done the same to the magnums in that they have decreed that as they are more expensive there will not be the same stock turnover therefore it is better to only present the consumer with the one package size - 750 
ml. 
The attraction, to me, of the 375 ml format is that if there is only one person drinking that wine then there is no waste. I know that wine will keep once opened. I regularly put an opened bottle of wine, red or white, in the fridge and know that it will be good drinking one, two or three days later. Sometimes though you know that you will not want to drink that same wine style within the next week so the only option is freezing it. This can work but does change the texture of the wine and causes tannin and sugar fall-out which can render the wine to be 'muddy'.
Congratulations to Penfolds for continuing the 375 ml offering. Long may it last.
The wine was lovely with nice blackberry fruit character and nice oak balance. In a 750 ml format (or even more in a magnum - 1.5L format) this wine will last another 10 years or so. In the 375 ml, as I have said, it develops quicker, it will still be good for a few years.