Freezing wine to store

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

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 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.