Freezing wine for later use

About 2 months back, this very concept got some group time. It seems that one of the members here did the experiment and was disappointed as to the " drinkability" of the frozen wine. I had intended to try it, but after that post, decided that one experimenter was enough. Unfortunately, I do not recall who that poster was, but think it was one of the experienced statespersons. I'll do a Google.Groups search and see what I can turn up.

Now, if one did the ice-tray thing, for cooking purposes, then maybe it would not be quite so bad.

Hunt

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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I did this only once and had good results. Following a party, we had nearly

3/4 bottle of BV Costal Chardonnay left over. I poured it, not into an ice-cube tray, but rather a freezer zip-lock bag. I meant to use it for cooking, but when I opened it (about 2 weeks later) and tasted it (after defrosting by putting the bag into a tub of cold water), it was quite drinkable. It looked a little cloudy, which I first I thought might be suspended ice particles. However, what was left (not much since I drank most of it) stayed cloudy even after it warmed to room temperature.

I assume I was just lucky that time, but I do look forward to repeating this experiment the next time we have any leftover wine.

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I put a bottle of Brauneberger Juffer Riesling (Fritz Haag) in the freezer to chill and forgot about it. This is a delightful light wine with a little spritz. That spritz was lost in the thaw, and the wine was a little blah.

Any German, Loire or other wine with secondary fermentation would, I suspect, be harmed by freezing.

Tom Schellberg

Within this context do you mean "secondary fermentation" in the true sense (malolactic fermentation), or are you describing a wine that has residual dissolved carbon dioxide from the primary fermentation?

If I had to guess, I'd say you meant the latter. I suspect that many (most?) German whites are not permitted to go through malolactic fermentation.

Tom S

Everyone's favorite culinary jailbird, Martha Stewart, mentioned something I had always intended to try. If you have some leftover wine in a bottle, pour it into an ice cube tray and put it in the freezer. Then, the next time you make pasta, toss a syrah-cube or a zin-cube into the pot.

I wonder why I never tried that? Oh yeah, no leftover wine.

Regards,

Kent Feiler

Works great. I do the same with beef stock. Make your favorite stock. Reduce down to 1/12th original amount. Pour into ice cube tray, and freeze. Add a cube or two to chili, stew, or other favorite recipes at a later date. But whichever you freeze (leftover wine or stock), just be sure to put the ice cube tray into a freezer-proof Zip-Lock bag, and they'll be good for for at least a couple of months.

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