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How cold is too cold? This is a non-trivial issue for wine lovers on occasion, most often when you have wine shipped during winter months ... stash your wine-shop purchase in the trunk of your car and leave it parked on a blustery day ... or put a bottle in the freezer for a quick chill before dinner and then forget it's there. Here's the good news: Unlike extreme heat, which can permanently and fatally damage wine on very short exposure, extreme cold doesn't usually damage wine. Even if the wine freezes solid, the primary threat would be that the expanding liquid might break the bottle or force out the cork. In the absence of such physical damage to the container, the experts say that extreme cold - even freezing - has no lasting effect on wine. What's more, because of its alcoholic content, wine freezes at a substantially lower temperature than water, and even at temperatures as cold as the lower 20s F (minus-6 C), it thickens into a slush long before it hardens into a giant ice cube. On occasion, wines subjected to freezing temperatures may develop clear, glassy tartrate crystals in the bottle, but these are harmless and don't normally affect the flavor of the wine. And, contrary to the conventional wisdom about some beers that suffer from temperature changes, there's really no harm in chilling wine, returning it to room temperature, then chilling it again later. If you have wines in the fridge and would like to take them out to make room for other things, there's no need to fret that the wine might be damaged. In an ideal world, wine thrives best in long-term storage at "cellar temperature" around 55F (13C). But failing that, too cold is better than too hot. If you have to choose, pick the chilly basement over the stuffy attic for your wine collection, and you won't be sorry. Do you have tales to tell about experiences with wines that got too cold, or too hot? Join an online discussion on this topic in our Wine Lovers' Discussion Group, http://www.wineloverspage.com/cgi-bin/sb/index.cgi?fn=1. Or, if you prefer, send me E-mail at wine@wineloverspage.com. I regret that the growing circulation of the "Wine Advisor" makes it difficult for me to reply individually to every note; but I'll answer as many as I can; and please be assured that all your input helps me do a better job of writing about wine. We hope you'll invite your wine-loving friends to register for their own free weekly copy at http://www.wineloverspage.com/wineadvisor.
Fruity Loire red 
Domaine de la Chanteleuserie 1999 Bourgueil ($12.99)This easy-to-like Cabernet Franc comes from Bourgueil ("boor-goo'yuh"), a region of the Loire Valley near Touraine. In contrast with the "green" and herbal nature of many Loire reds, this quaffable wine is almost Beaujolais-like in its forward fruit. Very dark ruby in color, it offers appetizing cherry-pie flavors, fruit and spice. Fresh flavors follow the nose, juicy fruit and tart acid in balance. U.S. importer: Kermit Lynch Wine Merchant, Berkeley, Calif. (March 3, 2001)
FOOD MATCH: A delicious pairing with a mild Southwestern-style dinner of chorizo sausage and avocado on cornmeal pancakes.
Visiting Friuli-Venezia Giulia and Slovenia Meanwhile, as always when I travel, I will try to keep The 30 Second Wine Advisor coming, but please note that it may be off schedule (probably a day or two early next week, perhaps several days late the week after that), or may come in a curtailed version.
Biologique and Biodynamique Thanks to Lauriann for setting us straight.
California Wine Club CALIFORNIA WINE CLUB'S RISK-FREE GUARANTEE: The club guarantees to reship, replace or refund any wine that you are not completely satisfied with, promptly and without question. There is no obligation and you can cancel at any time! Call the California Wine Club today, 1-800-777-4443 in the U.S., or contact the club through its Website, http://www.Cawineclub.com. SPECIAL JOINING OFFER for 30 Second Wine Advisor readers: Mention that you saw this advertisement, and you will receive three bottles for the price of two in your first shipment.
You are on the subscription list because you registered during a visit to Robin Garr's Wine Lovers' Page. If for any reason you no longer want to receive this publication, simply send a short E-mail to 'wine@wineloverspage.com' asking to be unsubscribed (and, if you wish, offering us any suggestions you may have as to how we could have served you better), and we'll remove your name from the list. We do not use this list for any other purpose and will never give or sell your name or E-mail to anyone. Please contact us in the same way if your E-mail address changes. And of course we welcome feedback, suggestions, and ideas for future columns. Send us E-mail at wine@wineloverspage.com. A note about our HTML Edition: Please note that as of December, 2000, we have temporarily suspended publication of an HTML edition (with images), because of persistent technical problems. However, if you signed up for this edition, we are keeping your preference in the database, and you will get it again if and when we resume it. All the wine-tasting reports posted here are consumer-oriented. In order to maintain objectivity and avoid conflicts of interest, I purchase all the wines I rate at my own expense in retail stores and accept no samples, gifts or other gratuities from the wine industry.
If you'd like to talk about wine online with fellow wine enthusiasts around the world, we'd be delighted to have you join the interactive, international forums in our Wine Lovers' Discussion Group. Vol. 3, No. 8, March 12, 2001
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