I'm in the Northeast and it's going to be some ridiculous number of degrees
below zero tonight. I keep all my wine stored in the basement... I was
starting to fear that they might freeze, but when I went downstairs to round
them all up I figured that since I couldn't see my breath that it wasn't
close to cold enough to freeze them. Is there anything to worry about? How
cold does it have to get for something that is 13% alcohol to freeze?

Your water pipes will freeze first.


"SJP" > wrote in message
news:2IHNb.62742$sv6.142050@attbi_s52...
> I'm in the Northeast and it's going to be some ridiculous number of
degrees
> below zero tonight. I keep all my wine stored in the basement... I was
> starting to fear that they might freeze, but when I went downstairs to
round
> them all up I figured that since I couldn't see my breath that it wasn't
> close to cold enough to freeze them. Is there anything to worry about?
How
> cold does it have to get for something that is 13% alcohol to freeze?
>
>

I went back to my physical chemistry book and calculated for a 13% ethanol
in water solution a freezing point of something like:

-5.24 deg C

or

22.6 deg F

Of course this was after a couple of glasses of Ravenswood Zin, so I'm not
promising anything (however, there may be a few more solutes besides the
alcohol there, so hopefully I am on the safe side).

justin

"SJP" > wrote in message
news:2IHNb.62742$sv6.142050@attbi_s52...
> I'm in the Northeast and it's going to be some ridiculous number of
degrees
> below zero tonight. I keep all my wine stored in the basement... I was
> starting to fear that they might freeze, but when I went downstairs to
round
> them all up I figured that since I couldn't see my breath that it wasn't
> close to cold enough to freeze them. Is there anything to worry about?
How
> cold does it have to get for something that is 13% alcohol to freeze?
>
>

In article <YjKNb.78748$na.43234@attbi_s04>, "Justin"
> writes:

>I went back to my physical chemistry book and calculated for a 13% ethanol
>in water solution a freezing point of something like:
>
>-5.24 deg C
>
>or
>
>22.6 deg F
>
>Of course this was after a couple of glasses of Ravenswood Zi

That sounds about right, I've heard stories of wine freezing at prolonged
exposure about 20°.

As another poster pointed out, pipes will freeze in a basement before wine.

I was just discussing this with owner of my local wine store while picking up
an order yesterday. He told of when he started in the biz, and a customer
stored several cases of Bdx in a garage. They froze, and store took them back
(!!!!). He said once they thawed they tasted fine (though with tartrate
deposits). But he wouldn't suggest trying it again!

So how was the Ravenswood? Which bottling and year?
Dale

Dale Williams
Drop "damnspam" to reply

"SJP" > wrote in message
news:2IHNb.62742$sv6.142050@attbi_s52...
> I'm in the Northeast and it's going to be some ridiculous number of
degrees
> below zero tonight. I keep all my wine stored in the basement... I was
> starting to fear that they might freeze, but when I went downstairs to
round
> them all up I figured that since I couldn't see my breath that it wasn't
> close to cold enough to freeze them. Is there anything to worry about?
How
> cold does it have to get for something that is 13% alcohol to freeze?

Not sure, but keep in mind that they store vodka etc. in the freezer, where
the temperature is about 5 degrees F, and that doesn't freeze. Wine does
freeze at that temperature, but there is no way in heck your basement is
going to get that cold. Basements - if they are not heated - are basically
wine cellars. The point is that being under ground level is very
insulating - cooler in summer and warmer in winter.

"Dale Williams" > wrote in message
...
>
> I was just discussing this with owner of my local wine store while picking
up
> an order yesterday. He told of when he started in the biz, and a customer
> stored several cases of Bdx in a garage. They froze, and store took them
back
> (!!!!). He said once they thawed they tasted fine (though with tartrate
> deposits). But he wouldn't suggest trying it again!

Actually, I used to freeze opened wine to see how it worked. It remained
quite fresh - those deposits were the only drawback. But if filtered or
decanted or just poured from the top, I'd recommend it.