2011 Mollydooker Shiraz Carnival of Love
Community Tasting Note
Ex-Ray Likes this wine:
97 Points
Friday, January 6, 2023 - Compared in blind tasting a with a bottle opened three weeks ago, a glass removed, and the rest frozen. That bottle was preferred by 9 of 14 tasters. Very dark garnet-purple, 100% opaque, no brown at the edges. Extremely viscous, very slow "legs." Powerful aromas from first pour, of blackberries and black cherries, with an earthy and tar component, some smoke. Full-bodied, mouth-coating flavors, also black fruits, a bit of a coarse texture, but still loads of fruit, nice acidity, and soft tannins. Despite 15.5% alcohol it's not too hot.
Ric
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Comment posted by rbradleypate:
2/6/2023 1:08:00 PM - What is the thought process behind removing a glass and freezing the remaining wine? Never heard of that method before.
Comment posted by Ex-Ray:
2/13/2023 6:44:00 AM - Thanks for your note. Years ago there was an article in the old San Diego Grapevine about freezing leftover wine. We tried it and it worked. Sometimes someone will ask what's the best way to preserve wine if they just have an occasional glass or two but want to keep the rest for longer than a couple of days. Vac-U-Vin, Private Reserve inert gas, other methods are fine for a few days at most. A true cruvinet is expensive. Even the gas pellet devices show some decline.
We tried an experiment at our tasting group: opening one bottle of each of four good wines (2010 Beaucastel, 2011 Saxum James Berry, 2011 Mollydooker Carnival of Love, and 2011 Cayuse Bionic Frog) three weeks ahead. I removed 4 oz. from each just so the bottles wouldn't crack when frozen from liquid expansion, but froze the 4 oz. as well. On the day of the tasting I thawed the wines, added back the 4 oz. and also opened a fresh bottle of each. I presented the wines as four pairs without saying anything more, just asked everyone to tell me which wine they preferred in each pair. At the end, I revealed that each pair was exactly the same wine, just that one had been opened and frozen three weeks earlier. BTW: the frozen wine was actually preferred in 3 of 4 pairs! Personally I couldn't tell the difference.
The point, apart from just having fun, was to show there is a cost-free method of preserving leftover wine longer term, weeks and possibly months. In our case, we may open several bottles at home to try against each other but want to save some for a later date.
Give it a try and see what you think. Write a note with your results.
Cheers!
Ric