Every 5 years or so, I put a white in the freezer to chill it fast, but then forget I put it in there and by the time I remember it has frozen solid. The cork typically blows out as the liquid expands (water expands when frozen, and wine contains lots of water). It happened again. Good thing it wasn't a screw cap wine. It was an excellent German dry Riesling I
previously reviewed, and after thawing it actually tasted pretty good, though not up to the standard of the
unneglected bottle I had a few months ago. It was a
2008 Schafer-Frohlich RIESLING Trocken "Bockenauer" (Nahe, Germany). I won't review the frozen bottle.
Next up was the 2001 Chateau Haut-Bergey (Pessac-Leognan), one of my sentimental favorite estates in the Graves region of Bordeaux (I used to sell this when I worked for Paramount Wines in NY back in the early 80s). It's way more expensive now, but it's also stepped up in quality. It had a dark black, brickish ruby color befitting a mature Graves, and sported an intensely fragrant smoky, spiced gravel, and sweet cassis nose. Rich and soft, with deep, ripe fruit, and a smoky, earthy, oaky finish. It would have preferred the oak to be a bit less overt, but still it was very, very good, and peaking. 89.