Remembrance of things past: vindication, triumph over scoffers.
When I said the flavor of wines improved in partly-filled bottles after they had been frozen, all hell broke loose among my compatriots. When I added that after thawing the bottles needed vigorous shaking, my wine bibber friends were beside themselves.
"Nutty nonsense!" "Heresy! Lucky no stake's around to roast you on." "You gone senile or something?" "You know wine can't tolerate sudden extreme temperature changes." "Do you realize what the hell you are saying--shaking wine like Martinis?!" Other comments were less civil.
The wine dinner at the gourmet Sonoma Restaurant in Princeton, Mass., on Route 31, last year with Geyser Peak wines recalled that incident. The first time was 18 years ago when I left for Lucerne, Switzerland, on a two-week working vacation. Some 16 ounces of a stupendous Geyser Peak Cabernet Sauvignon remained in my just-opened bottle. I put it in the freezer compartment of the refrigerator.
A month later, when I removed the bottle for the wine to thaw, the wine resembled a popsicle. About six hours later, the water and solids had separated. I shook the bottle vigorously to restore the wine to its natural condition.
Although the wine's color showed somewhat dull, its flavor was superb! Better even than when the wine was first tasted. Sandy tartrates at the bottom of the bottle indicated the freezing.
Since then, I have frozen dozens of wines when I knew I would be unable to drink them until after four days had passed. White or red, it made no difference.
Wines should be frozen while fresh—shortly after the bottle has been opened. After having been frozen, the wine tasted immeasurably better. Warning: Once having been frozen, do not re-freeze the wine. The refrigerator is OK for white wine; keep the red at room or cellar temperature until consumed.
However, when reluctant cook Lillian prepares the same meal for six dinners, no wine remains for freezing; I drink eight ounces at each meal. Sometimes we have one of Lillian's one-meal-wonders--a can of salmon or boneless, skinless sardines, and I open a white wine. Then follows another six dinners of the same, perhaps chicken breasts or meatloaf. So if I opt for a red wine, I freeze the remaining white wine I had with the fish.
Three times during the past 16 years, I have written an entire column on freezing wine, received with disbelief by incredulous oenophiles.
Today those nay-sayer vinophile friends grudgingly admit that wine having been frozen tastes better and makes unnecessary using it in cooking or, worse yet, pouring it down the drain. After white wines have been thawed, you may see tiny "flyers" swimming around. Tartrates, tasteless, no problem.
We just finished six days of stuffed green peppers (if I never see a green pepper again, it will be too soon). Eight ounces of Rombauer Merlot remained in the bottle. Into the freezer it went beside a two-months-before deposited Westport Rivers Chardonnay. I had a magnificent Benefizio Chardonnay from Italy that I was anxious to drink again, so I opened it. The other two wines remained frozen in sweet sleep while we coped with six dinners of boneless, skinless chicken breasts.
If Lillian decrees another one-meal-wonder, I'll remove either the Rombauer or the Westport Rivers frozen wine. It will be perfect. For me, freezing wine is the best of all possible worlds in wine preservation and enhanced flavor.