Mostly because I don't have a wine fridge anymore, but also because I just have too much wine to keep everything chilled, I am often in the position of needing to quick-chill a few bottles of white wine. Putting wine in the freezer usually works quite well for about 15-30 minutes, but if those were last minute additions and I'm already in the full swing of a party.....I often forget about it until morning.
I've ruined a few bottles this way, most recently a Sauvignon Blanc. Usually one of two things happens when a wine is left in the freezer overnight: 1. The cork pushes out most, if not all the way, or 2. The bottom of the wine bottle (yes, the glass) breaks. I guess there is enough pressure that builds up and some way or another, then wine wants to escape.
This time, the Sauv Blanc was a twist top and it surprisingly neither broke the seal nor broke the glass (maybe my freezer just isn't cold enough?). As a trial, I simply moved the wine back into the fridge and decided it might be good for cooking at least. I opened it tonight, and it tastes fine, but not great. It wasn't an expensive bottle, so maybe it would have tasted this way anyway. I can't help but think that the freezing really does to something to the wine.
I researched online and several wine blogs seem to concur that 's long as the seal hasn`t been breached (pushing the cork doesn`t count as a breach) the wine will be OK. It may throw some bitartrate sediment in the bottle, but that`s harmless.'
Another blog said 'If the wine was truly completely frozen (hard to do because the alcohol significantly lowers the freezing point) it should have either pushed the cork out or broken the bottle. Most likely, wine would be partially frozen (only the water in the wine will actually freeze), making a slushy. Freezing (or partially freezing) would potentially impact the structure of a red wine more than a white. A delicate red, like a Pinot Noir, would more likely be affected than a sturdy red like a Syrah. Thaw out and drink the whites (assuming the bottle isn't broken, of course). Even if the cork is pushed up, they are probably okay." '
I'm still not convinced that the wine is really ok, and I'm not willing to test it out on a bottle that I know is really good. I guess for now I'll just have to not forget about the wine in the freezer. Has this happened to anyone else and what did you do?
Monday, October 08, 2007
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3 comments:
Haha, I've experienced this but only with beer...and it's nasty once frozen.
However, back in my pimptastic days of college, I figured out the perfect quickchill technique.
1. Pour wine into large freezer sized ziplock bag...make sure it's a good quality one. Stuff the empty bottle into the freezer to cool the glass down.
2. Submerge sealed bag into ice water bath. Since the ziplock is thin, it conducts heat across it fairly well despite having poor thermal conductivity.
3. After perhaps 15 mins or so, wine should be cold enough to serve...bust out your trendy wine thermometer to check.
4. Pour wine back into the now cold bottle using a clean funnel...less coordinated people might want to do this over the sink.
5. Et voila, one chilled white...with an engineering flourish.
Wow Bernard! Coming off the benches with an impressive engineering solution to a wine geek's problem. Much appreciated!!!
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