For those that remember reading about my little experiment two weeks
ago, here are the (non-scientific) results.

I ended up leaving the bottles in the gararge for 7 days. The low temps
varied from +5 degrees F to +23 degrees F. The highs, at most, were +30
degrees F. The B.Nouveau, which was in a styrofoam shipper, ended up
throwing a lot of sediment!!!! I decanted it to be certain that is
wasn't just ice particles. It was in fact sediment. The Potelle Zin,
which was left free standing, appeared to not be affect at all. No
freezing and no sediment was "created". I actually had a glass last
night and it was just like I remember when I last had it.

Possible reasoning for the difference in results. My first thought was
the alcohol content. The BN is 13% while the Zin was 14.5%. How much
difference would 1.5% make in this case? Perhaps other components such
as tannin and acidity, which are more in a zin than the BN. Also, body
"weight" of the wine perhaps made a difference. How would a light Pinot
Noir fare in this experiment?? On the contrary, I bet that a Turley Zin,
at 17.5% alcohol would fare well, but I won't try. :-)

During the exact time of this test, I had at case of ZD cab 2000 shipped
to me from CA via UPS "ground". When it arrived, the bottles appeared to
be a fine shape. Granted, these wines were only exposed to somewhat
extreme cold temps in the last 3 days of travel. Plus, the wine being
shipped didn't sit motionless like the bottles in my garage. Another
difference.

Well, this was interesting. I hope that others find it helpful.

Cheers!

Eric in VT

Salut/Hi Eric Reichenbach,

le/on Tue, 17 Feb 2004 09:49:08 -0500 (EST), tu disais/you said:-

>For those that remember reading about my little experiment two weeks
>ago, here are the (non-scientific) results.
>
>I ended up leaving the bottles in the gararge for 7 days. The low temps
>varied from +5 degrees F to +23 degrees F. The highs, at most, were +30
>degrees F. The B.Nouveau, which was in a styrofoam shipper, ended up
>throwing a lot of sediment!!!! I decanted it to be certain that is
>wasn't just ice particles. It was in fact sediment.

What did the wine taste like?

>Possible reasoning for the difference in results. My first thought was
>the alcohol content. The BN is 13% while the Zin was 14.5%. How much
>difference would 1.5% make in this case?

None, as far as sedimenting is concerned.

> Perhaps other components such as tannin and acidity, which are more in a zin than the BN.

You sure about the acidity in a Zin being higher than in a Beaujolai
Nouveau? I'd have guessed the Beaujolais had more. Anyway, my guess is that
the sediment may well be tartaric acid. Completely harmless.

>Well, this was interesting. I hope that others find it helpful.

Yes indeed. Thanks for coming back.

--
All the Best
Ian Hoare
http://www.souvigne.com
mailbox full to avoid spam. try me at website

thanks, I was wondering how that was going. Reassuring, while I still will
avoid shipping in the coldest weather, sounds like probably pretty safe to ship
ground most of the non-summertime.
Dale

Dale Williams
Drop "damnspam" to reply

On Tue, 17 Feb 2004 09:49:08 -0500 (EST), (Eric
Reichenbach) wrote:


>Possible reasoning for the difference in results. My first thought was
>the alcohol content.

> Perhaps other components such
>as tannin and acidity, which are more in a zin than the BN.

>Also, body
>"weight" of the wine perhaps made a difference.

Cold temperatures cause tartrates to be precipitated.

My guess is that the wines that did not throw a sediment have been
through one of the "cold stabilisation" processes..

--
Steve Slatcher
http://pobox.com/~steve.slatcher

Dear me, let me get this right...

I was under the impression that storage under heat conditions would
prematurely age the wine. So I keep mine in an unregulated cellar space that
has seasonal variation from around 0 C to 20 C. I know the variation isn't
the greatest thing, but I thought that keeping them on the colder side would
be better for them. So what you are saying is that storing them at low
tempratures can result in more sediment?

I need to figure out how to REALLY impress Fred now so that he might send me
a Eurocave!

On Tue, 17 Feb 2004 16:44:30 +0100, Ian Hoare >
wrote:

>Anyway, my guess is that
>the sediment may well be tartaric acid. Completely harmless.

Quite. As a matter of interest, do you know if the precipitation
affects the flavour noticeably? I mean, what is left disolved must
have a different chemical composition, but maybe the difference is
negligible for practical tasting purposes...?

--
Steve Slatcher
http://pobox.com/~steve.slatcher

Salut/Hi Steve Slatcher,

le/on Wed, 18 Feb 2004 19:26:05 +0000, tu disais/you said:-

>On Tue, 17 Feb 2004 16:44:30 +0100, Ian Hoare >
>wrote:
>
>>Anyway, my guess is that
>>the sediment may well be tartaric acid. Completely harmless.
>
>Quite. As a matter of interest, do you know if the precipitation
>affects the flavour noticeably? I mean, what is left disolved must
>have a different chemical composition, but maybe the difference is
>negligible for practical tasting purposes...?

A little, it diminishes the acidity a bit.

--
All the Best
Ian Hoare
http://www.souvigne.com
mailbox full to avoid spam. try me at website