Wow. Haven't been here in a week or two and can't believe the amount of
spam. What's happened to the neighborhood??

Anyway......... I've recently read a post on a different board (from
someone who is really quite knowledgeable about wine) saying that they have
had success freezing wine and defrosting it many weeks (even months) later.
This is not someone who doesn't know good wine, so I am taking it seriously.

These wines are frozen (either with gas in the head space or not) and
allowed to thaw out, then tasted in formal tastings. The person says there
is often some resulting sediment that needs to be 'shaken' back into full
liquidity, but that the wines are actually better than when kept under gas
for a few days.

Anyone here have any experience with this? Opinions? Again.... this is
someone with proven background and experience, not just some oddball.

"Midlife" > wrote in message
...

> I've recently read a post on a different board (from
> someone who is really quite knowledgeable about wine) saying that they
> have
> had success freezing wine and defrosting it many weeks (even months)
> later.
> This is not someone who doesn't know good wine, so I am taking it
> seriously.
>
> These wines are frozen (either with gas in the head space or not) and
> allowed to thaw out, then tasted in formal tastings. The person says
> there
> is often some resulting sediment that needs to be 'shaken' back into full
> liquidity, but that the wines are actually better than when kept under gas
> for a few days.
>
> Anyone here have any experience with this? Opinions? Again.... this is
> someone with proven background and experience, not just some oddball.

I've frozen wine on occasion - not normally on purpose - and it doesn't
really suffer from it. Usually it will throw a tartrate deposit on thawing,
but that's easily separated by decanting or pouring through a coffee filter.

Tom S

Midlife wrote:

> These wines are frozen (either with gas in the head space or not) and
> allowed to thaw out, then tasted in formal tastings. The person says there
> is often some resulting sediment that needs to be 'shaken' back into full
> liquidity, but that the wines are actually better than when kept under gas
> for a few days.

I now store wine in a machine that allows all of the air in the neck to
be well flushed out with pre-purified nitrogen before you slide the tap
down to the bottom of the bottle. I have kept even very fine dessert
wines for weeks this way without any harm. Of course, if you use
nitrogen containing a bit of oxygen or do not very well flush out the
air in the neck of the bottle, the wine may degrade a bit with time,
but usually does not go bad unless you have a batch of nitrogen or
argon highly contaminated with oxygen.

I have frozen everyday wines in the past without noticable harm. I
still sometimes freeze cooking wines in very small zip plastic bags so
that it is easy to rapidly thaw a bit for cooking by placing a bag or
two in the sink filled with cold water.

"cwdjrxyz" > wrote in message
ups.com...
>
> Midlife wrote:
>
>> These wines are frozen (either with gas in the head space or not) and
>> allowed to thaw out, then tasted in formal tastings. The person says
>> there
>> is often some resulting sediment that needs to be 'shaken' back into full
>> liquidity, but that the wines are actually better than when kept under
>> gas
>> for a few days.
>
> I now store wine in a machine that allows all of the air in the neck to
> be well flushed out with pre-purified nitrogen before you slide the tap
> down to the bottom of the bottle. I have kept even very fine dessert
> wines for weeks this way without any harm. Of course, if you use
> nitrogen containing a bit of oxygen or do not very well flush out the
> air in the neck of the bottle, the wine may degrade a bit with time,
> but usually does not go bad unless you have a batch of nitrogen or
> argon highly contaminated with oxygen.
>
> I have frozen everyday wines in the past without noticable harm. I
> still sometimes freeze cooking wines in very small zip plastic bags so
> that it is easy to rapidly thaw a bit for cooking by placing a bag or
> two in the sink filled with cold water.
>
I assume you use Argon with the more expensive wines and nitrogen with the
cheaper. You don't want the gas to be more expensive than ther wine.

Bert.

Bert wrote:
> I assume you use Argon with the more expensive wines and nitrogen with the
> cheaper. You don't want the gas to be more expensive than ther wine.

I use nitrogen. I only mention argon because I have heard of the use of
it. Both gases should be equally good for wine, provided both have
equally low oxygen content and the system they are used in is properly
designed. For a nitrogen system, the gas should be introduced through
the top and the tap tube placed just above the wine surface with the
air being displaced out the tap tube.The main thing is to flush with
much gas. After flushing, the tap tube then is pushed down to the
bottom of the bottle. For argon, in theory, it might be better to
introduce argon through the tap tube and exaust the air from the top,
since argon is heavier than air. In reality, because of turbulence and
other factors, the main thing likely is that one just flush the air
from the bottle neck with a huge rapid flow of gas. Even prepurified
nitrogen is nearly dirt cheap if you order it in large cylinders from a
commercial gas supply company rather than be ripped off by buying small
cans of gas, of sometimes unknown purity, from wine supply companies.
Unfortunately some wine machines that use gas have faulty design in
that they do not allow the tap tube to slide so that the air from the
neck can be completely displaced from the bottle after the tap is in
the bottle. Helium also would be quite satisfactory and is of
reasonable price, but helium leaks easily and very good seals are
required to contain it. Neon also would work, but would be more
expensive than need be. Krypton would also be fine, but completely
impractical because it is extremely expensive. Carbon dioxide would
prevent oxidation of the wine, but you would end up with a sparkling
wine.

I've never actually frozen wine to drink. If I know I am opening more
than I can use, I do the "refill a half-bottle method." What I have
done when I have leftover wine that I'm not finishing is freeze it in
ice trays to use for cooking. Of course nowdays I have a vinegar crock
(Betsy says she prefers my red wine vinegar to anything she ever found
in stores).l

I've never actually frozen wine to drink. If I know I am opening more
than I can use, I do the "refill a half-bottle method." What I have
done when I have leftover wine that I'm not finishing is freeze it in
ice trays to use for cooking. Of course nowdays I have a vinegar crock
(Betsy says she prefers my red wine vinegar to anything she ever found
in stores).l

I got this idea from a local TV gourmet show. If you're like me, you don't
finish every bottle you open. Pour the leftovers into icecube trays and make
wine cubes!!! Then, you can either put some cubes in a glass and defrost it on
a low setting in the microwave and drink it as normal or put some cubes into a
glass of Sprite Zero (or what have you) and make your own coolers-- coolers
that look great too; the cubes melt and the color bleeds out, like dusk at the
beach. I've done this with cheap reds, such as Charles Shaw. Haven't tried it
with whites yet.

Btw, thumbs up to Beni Di Batasiolo, Moscato d'Asti-- delicious, low-alc,
lightly carbonated, dessert wine that isn't too sweet. On sale for $10 at
Kahn's in Indianapolis.