Freezing Wine for Cooking

[scott123]

I am not that much of wine drinker but use it constantly in recipes. The recipes that I make with wine rarely use more than about 1/2 a cup, leaving me with 3/4 of a bottle of wine left over. In order to have this available for future cooking, I take the rest of the bottle and reduce it by half and then freeze it in ice cube trays. Is there anything wrong with this? Will the flavor of the wine in the final dish suffer?

[fresco]

I know people who freeze partial bottles of wine for drinking and swear that the taste is much better than it would be if they didn't freeze it, but doubt they are doing this with $100 bottles. Then again, it's unlikely you're using $100 wine for cooking.

[beans]

A little open air summer bar that froze Moscato for summertime enjoyment. Never tried it and wondered what it did to wine....

Not offering up much to go on this post other than the following:

If you decide to freeze, make sure there is plenty of space within the bottle or vessel. My roomie, this last week, placed a magnum of Pinot Grigio into the freezer for a fast chill and forgot about it. The next day I walked into the kitchen and wondered what that sticky stuff was doing on the floor. Hmmm. Then I opened the freezer to find a completely frozen and exploded bottle, with glass everywhere. Grrrrr! Now the refrigerator is really overworking itself and nearly freezing everything to slush in the refrigerator compartment and is in a severe, deep freeze-like conditions within the freezer compartment. I almost broke a toe off when the icecream container fell out yesterday and hit the floor.

Have you considered this? My one friend does purchase those little four pack bottles with the screw caps for cooking, that way she only uses what she needs.

[scott123]

little four pack bottles with the screw caps for cooking

I have tried cooking with those - the brands available to me in that size are just not up to snuff. Not that I spend that much more on my dry Spanish white, but I'm much happier with the results.

[beans]

Yeah, they do seem like they could be a little bit weak on delivering flavourful results.

[Busboy]

We freeze leftover wine all the time. For drinking, I'd say you get less detioration than if you just corked it and threw it back in the fridge. I can't say that I can taste any difference if I'm cooking with it. This may be due to the the quality of my palate rather the method of storage, however.

[Rachel Perlow]

The only problem I have with what you are doing is boiling it down by half before freezing. Well not a problem exactly, but just a reminder that since the wine is already reduced it doesn't need to reduce in the pan as well. OK, and a problem: since part of the purpose of the wine is that some flavors are only released in the presense of alcohol, if you pre-reduce it (and boil off the alcohol), those flavors won't be released in the final dish. So, IMO, as long as you are just making cubes out of it, just make them straight, don't bother with the extra step of reducing the wine.

[Boris_A]

My regular cook wine bottle is simply recorked and I even don't put it in the fridge. Sometimes it takes a week, sometimes two weeks to empty it. All what can happen in this short time is some oxydisation (not unlike Sherry), which I think is not bad at all for cooking. I guess one week in a recorked bottle ist a rather sensitive treatement to wine compared to cooking.

[Brad Ballinger]

There is not problem whatsoever to what you are doing. Rachel makes a valid point about being careful not to reduce it a second time. Actually, many cooks will make a red wine reduction sauce and then pour it into ice cube trays to have the flexibility to use smaller portions for future dishes.

The caution I would add is to make sure your freezer doesn't rapidly evaporate the frozen liquids stored in it. Some freezers will cause evaporation of ice -- where the cubes are about half their original size or even smaller. Once your wine cubes freeze, pop them out of the tray and store them in a sealed container.

[phaelon56]

My one friend does purchase those little four pack bottles with the screw caps for cooking, that way she only uses what she needs.

I've been using these and found some brands better than others - can anyone here suggest one that's better than average? (true confessions - I don't drink alcohol but if I get a first class upgrade when flying I order the small bottles as my "free drink" and just take them home to cook with).

[scott123]

part of the purpose of the wine is that some flavors are only released in the presense of alcohol

That's an interesting point. I wasn't aware of this phenomenon. Could you go into a little more detail?

pop them out of the tray and store them in a sealed container.

Thanks, I do.

[mikeycook]

I have gone to half bottles for cooking where possible to avoid some of this problem.

[beans]

(and boil off the alcohol)

Small point, but alcohol does not entirely cook out, even when using just wine or beer.

[Boris_A]

I don't get it.

What's the idea of freezing wine intended to be cooked? I mean there's acidity and alcohol inside, two excellent conservation aids. Within a week or two, wine can't turn bad. It may deteriorate for drinking, but for cooking?

Dont' get me wrong here, I'm very meticulous about my cook wine, I spend around $14 per bottle.

[mikeycook]

I don't get it.

What's the idea of freezing wine intended to be cooked? I mean there's acidity and alcohol inside, two excellent conservation aids. Within a week or two, wine can't turn bad. It may deteriorate for drinking, but for cooking?

Dont' get me wrong here, I'm very meticulous about my cook wine, I spend around $14 per bottle.

In my opinion, if it deteriorates for drinking, it will deteriorate for cooking. If I wouldn't drink it, I wouldn't put it in my food. I've never frozen wine, though, so I can't speak to its effectiveness.

[PopsicleToze]

Not that I often have leftover wine But on the occasion I do, it's only a small amount. I freeze it in ice-cube trays. The low alcohol content will allow it to freeze. When frozen, pop out the cubes and store in a freezer bag, which is the perfect addition to a sauce since I usually cook for only 1 or 2.

[Boris_A]

Hmmm.

If you cook a wine for 5 minutes, it will have deteriorated badly for drinking.

But there shouldn't be the slightest problem to still use this wine for ... cooking.

A bottle open for several days turns the wine somewhat "tired" - a minor change compared to what's happening when you cook it.

If I was concerned about, I'd vacumate the bottle - but freezing, reducing, forming cubicles would be a complete waste of time in my eyes.

[tommy]

A bottle open for several days turns the wine somewhat "tired" - a minor change compared to what's happening when you cook it.

i was thinking that, but it strikes me as a much different change.

i'd be tempted to freeze wine for cooking, but only if i could remove most of the air from the vessel. i'm not sure that's practical, though.

[scott123]

A bottle open for several days turns the wine somewhat "tired" - a minor change compared to what's happening when you cook it.

For me, a several day open bottle of wine is undrinkable. But... I agree that 5 minutes of cooking (reducing) has a very similar effect. Opening a bottle accelerates oxidation and cooking it accelerates that oxidation even further.

[Craig Camp]

Why don't you just buy some 187 ML. bottles (airplane size) instead of going through all of this freezing stuff - that is if you're not intending to drink any of it.

[tommy]

the idea of getting odors of the freezer on the wine cubes doesn't appeal to me either. i'd have to go with small bottles.

[Craig Camp]

A bottle open for several days turns the wine somewhat "tired" - a minor change compared to what's happening when you cook it.

For me, a several day open bottle of wine is undrinkable. But... I agree that 5 minutes of cooking (reducing) has a very similar effect. Opening a bottle accelerates oxidation and cooking it accelerates that oxidation even further.

As I taste through samples for reviewing in my newsletter and articles I usually taste them over a 3 to 4 day period to see how they develop and change. Most young whites last that long without a severe problem in the refrigerator and very good young reds are often better after 1 or 2 days open - they also last better in the refrigerator.

However some wines oxidize overnight - don't re-buy wines that do this.

[robyn]

My one friend does purchase those little four pack bottles with the screw caps for cooking, that way she only uses what she needs.

I've been using these and found some brands better than others - can anyone here suggest one that's better than average? (true confessions - I don't drink alcohol but if I get a first class upgrade when flying I order the small bottles as my "free drink" and just take them home to cook with).

I've found that the Pinot Grigios are ok for whites (I use Cavit most of the time). Don't have any occasion to experiment with reds since most of my recipes that call for red wine call for a whole bottle (or close to it). Robyn

[Mark Sommelier]

When I worked for Jean-Louis Palladin, he used to freeze Banyuls in ice cube trays and stick the cubes inside chocolate souflées before they went in the oven. Damn, that was good.