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Cwdjrx _
 
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I froze wines now and then many years ago before I started storing under
ultra-pure nitrogen. The best way I found was to use a heavy zip-lock
plastic bag designed for freezing food. Fill the bag, nearly seal,
squeeze out the air, and finish sealing. Then place in a large flat pan
and freeze. The fairly thin sheet of wine in the plastic bag allows
fairly rapid freezing. You can thaw the bag rapidly in a sink full of
water. I never did this for fine wines. However the wine was quite
drinkable and good for cooking for up to a few months. Tom mentioned
heat stabilization. However you will find that some wines will be a bit
cloudy when thawed because of separation of tartrates. Some better
German and other wines are not heat stabilized, and tartrates are
considered a mark of good wines by many in Germany where heat
stabilization often is frowned on. In any event, the wines, as all other
frozen foods, should be stored at 0 degrees F or less. Enzymes and
oxygen can slowly react with even frozen vegetables and produce off
flavors and colors on long storage. That is why ascorbic acid is added
to some frozen fruits to prevent browning caused by oxygen. Vegetables
to be frozen are blanched in boiling water to destroy enzymes that can
produce off flavors. Just how importan such reactions are in frozen wine
is not apparent to me, but at least one should not be surprised if taste
and smell change a bit on long storage.

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