Home > Learn Wine

ask dr. vinny

Hello there! I'm Dr. Vinifera, or "Vinny" for short. Ask me your toughest wine questions, from the technical aspects of winemaking to the fine points of etiquette. I hope you find my answers educational and even amusing. Looking for a particular answer? Check my archive and my FAQs.

Dear Dr. Vinny,

I read your answer on what temperature does wine freeze at, but what if it is a screw cap? Will the wine be damaged?

—Y. Gwo, Garden City, N.Y.

Dear Gwo,

To find out, I put a bottle with a screw cap on it in the freezer and came back three days later. Nothing appeared to be wrong—the topper was in place, and there was no sign that the bottle was compromised. The wine seemed just fine once it warmed up enough that I could taste it.

If the water crystals had started expanding, there was probably enough headspace in the bottle to accommodate the expansion. But that doesn’t mean that every bottle in every freezer would act the same way, and I suspect that some bottles might be so tried under these circumstances that they would be in danger of cracking.

—Dr. Vinny

Do you have a question for Dr. Vinny? Ask it here...