The Auswine Forum

I read that one of the best ways to store open red wine was to freeze it and then slowly defrost it back out...has anyone tried this??

You read my mind adam!

I was just wondering about the same thing driving home last night. First thought was that the wine could go through some shock with the large variance of temp. Most freezers are set around the -20 degree mark. Serving temp about 18 degrees. I would have thought the 38 degree variance in a relatively short time before drinking would affect the taste.

Maybe someone out there has tried it and can shed some light on the topic?

I may have to put the body on the line and do a test...

Unless there are some that have tried this and found it to be a waste of time.......

Why don't 5 of us experiment and report back. I'm in.

As my palate is relatively inexperienced to some of the board's elders, I might not be able to detect as smaller variances. I'll try and be as accurate as possible.

.... can see the strange looks that I'll cop from the wife now!

any other volunteers

Ok found this on Mark Squires site: (http://marksquires.com/basics.htm#preservation)

A time honored question, with no perfect answer. Here are your choices on preserving opened bottles: Vacu-vin; gas; freezing; the half bottle trick.

...

Freezing is cumbersome, but it works. It was recommended to me by Robert Parker. Vacu-vin the unused portion for best results and put the bottle in the freezer. It will last indefinitely. It sounds radical, but results are quite good. It takes about six hours at room temperature to defrost and come up to drinking temperature. The Vacu-vin portion of this process is important since the wine may sit there for hours while it defrosts



I dont have a vacuvin so my sample may suffer!

Interesting thread regards the effect of temperature variation on wine.

I have had to endured less then perfect cellaring conditions for many a year.

I have rarely found a wine to be adversaly affected by there less then perfect (poor) cellaring. However, I tend to drink more full bodied Reds around 4- 6+ years cellaring and would not recommend my cellar conditions for serious long term cellaring

Having also been advised to moderate my alcohol consumption the prospeact of drinking an open wine over a longer period of time appeals.

I think I may try your proposed idea of frezing a wine and let U know.

I'll be in onthe test!

May I suggest that instead of Vacu-pumping the wine (as this system seems to be under some criticism of its own) I might try the time honoured decanting into a smaller bottle up to a meniscus and sealing tight under screw-cap.

guesttry doing this if you only want a small amount each time: I have different size ex-mineral water bottles (the use of which depends on how much of the original bottle you have drunk) which I fill to the top and ensure there is no air by screwing the cap over the meniscus (no bubbles of course), then pop it into the fridge. I have had bottles in this state for up to 2 weeks with no discernable variation (other, more seasoned drinkers may beg to differ). If the wine is below the lip, then you can vacu-pump it and do the same. It is a good idea that if you know you are only having one glass to decant the wine into the next bottle immediately to avoid any breathing.

Good luck,

Great thats 4 of us in on the trial. Anyone else what to put their hand up?

Simm
If you are going to be filling the bottle all the way up to the top, then freezing, won't there be problems with the bottle exploding / cracking? Or maybe wine does not expand as much as wine?

I'll be trying to do the experiment this weekend.

KevinT wrote:Great thats 4 of us in on the trial. Anyone else what to put their hand up?

Simm
If you are going to be filling the bottle all the way up to the top, then freezing, won't there be problems with the bottle exploding / cracking? Or maybe wine does not expand as much as wine?

I'll be trying to do the experiment this weekend.

Really good question! Does wine expand more than air? Where does the air go, or does it shrink that significantly as it cools. Hmmmm

It would probably be a good idea not to do the freezing in a glass bottle - something a little more flexible would be better. Its not so much the air that expands but the water (wine) - it'll increase volume as it becomes ice. Cheers

TomL wrote:It would probably be a good idea not to do the freezing in a glass bottle - something a little more flexible would be better. Its not so much the air that expands but the water (wine) - it'll increase volume as it becomes ice. Cheers

What would you suggest? I worry about letting water get too close to plastic, let alone wine. Plastic imparts a god awful flavour.

cheers,

I have my two test bottles patiently waiting, had no explosion due to the glass in freezer...left a little head space in the half bottle.

yet to do mine. Freezer full of freshly prepared baby food. Will try this weekend. Hopefully my boy's hungry this week

simm wrote:

TomL wrote:It would probably be a good idea not to do the freezing in a glass bottle - something a little more flexible would be better. Its not so much the air that expands but the water (wine) - it'll increase volume as it becomes ice. Cheers

What would you suggest? I worry about letting water get too close to plastic, let alone wine. Plastic imparts a god awful flavour.

cheers,

How about puting a 750 ml in a Magnum? No plastic, plenty of space for wine to flex its muscle when forzen.


Rob

Why bother freezing when simply putting the bottle in the fridge for several days, and longer, works fine?
MM.

If I open a bottle that is better than a plonk i just make sure I finish it!!

dont open it unless u know u r gonna finish it

or invite more friends

Okay,
Just for the experiment, I have stuck a small decanted bottle tipped a bit and stuck a vacu-pump in the end. It has been a week now and not all of the contents have frozen. Do you think some of the alcohol has come to the surface? Will open this Friday.

I agree MM, I just do the fridge, but for the sake of the experiment...

Criag, sometimes my wife demands another bottle of white opened at 2am so I crack a red, then she disappears to bed. I don't often feel like finishing the third bottle on my own nowadays, let alone more.

cheers

Opps...I forgot to post, I froze a half bottle of red (shirvington cab) and a half bottle of white (Voyager Chards).

I took them out in the morning and approached them at night for the taste test, I found the cabernet to be lacking in the aromatics that it did 5 days before, but was still a great drink, it didnt have the oxidative aromas I would have expected from storing it in a normal half bottle or even in the fridge. Overall, a good result.

The chards performed even better, dont know why, maybe its spomething in the chemical composition? didnt notice any major differences from the previous tasting fresh apart from a very slight lack of aromatics.

Overall, freezing works well, I have found that often when I store half bottles I dont get back to the quick enough, in the future if I plan to drink the wine the next day I will just stick it inthe fridge, however if that is not likely freezing is definately the way to go.

Obviously not at all scientific and based off my observations and no real comparison...

Okay, here's what i did

Opened a bottle of Cullens Ellen Bussel, poured a generous glass for my self and poured the remainder equally into 2 half bottles. Put corks in the bottles and put them straight into the freezer. They froze completely within a few hours.

Several days later, got my wife to pull 1 bottle out of the freezer at about 3 pm. Got home from work and the contents were still half frozen. Having read Adams report that he found no adverse effects of freezing, I put the bottle outside on a Perth's summers day to let it warm up quicker...... All in the name of the experiment

Within an hour the contents of the bottle were completely defrosted and were still slightly chilled.

The tasting? Not bad at all. At first I thought the aromas were a bit more sudued and the typical Margaret River cabernet minty aromas were not so evident. Within 20 minutes, the wine was tasting as I had remembered it with the first glass.

So, it does appear that one can freeze a bottle of wine without noticable side effects.

There remains 1 more bottle in the freezer. Going to leave that in there for a few more weeks to see if the lenght of time in the freezer will play a part in this experiment.

Would I do it with a really good bottle of wine? No. Most everyday wine? Hell yeah!