Will Your Wine Bottle Explode If You Forget It In The Freezer?

When you're having guests over and you realize that one of the bottles of wine that you planned on serving is not chilled, you might stash it in the freezer temporarily. Except that the next day, while searching for meat to defrost for dinner, you find it in there — frozen solid and forgotten. It's still intact, which is good — but how close of a call was it? Did it nearly explode, or was it perfectly safe the whole time?

If you forgot an unopened bottle of still wine overnight in the freezer, it's very unlikely that it will explode. However, leaks might happen. Wine does contain water, and water expands when it freezes, so there is a chance that the cork will be forced out, or the seal of a screw-on lid will split. This also breaks the formerly airtight seal of the bottle, so oxidation may begin, changing the flavor and even the texture — it will likely be a lot less vibrant than newly opened wine.

While still reds, whites, and rosés are safe from exploding, the bubbly stuff — like Champagne, Prosecco, and Cava, — is most definitely not. Do not forget to pull your sparkling wine out of the freezer after about 15 minutes, or the pressure can build up inside to the point where it very well might explode.

Frozen wine isn't ideal to drink, especially on its own. Freezing it changes its flavor profile and makes the tannins in wine feel less present. This doesn't make it undrinkable or unsafe, but it does affect how you'll want to use it. Rather than sip it, one of the best things you can do with frozen wine is cook with it. Just let it thaw, and then add however much your recipe calls for. If you have leftover wine that you want to keep on hand for cooking later, you can pour it into these 2 tablespoon Souper Cubes freezer molds, so it's already in pre-measured portions. Use them to upgrade your plain spaghetti sauce, or make Ree Drummond's chicken pot pie. 

You can also use wine that was accidentally frozen to make sangria. You'll be adding so many other flavorful ingredients that it won't matter if the taste of the wine itself isn't totally fresh. Try this sangria recipe, and use whatever you've got in place of the specific red it calls for.