I just received via UPS ground a couple of bottles of wine. The wines were shipped last week from California to my office in Wilmington, North Carolina.

Upon opening the box, I immediately notice the wines are extremely cold--I mean REALLY cold. I can barely hold them, they're so cold. But they are not frozen and do not appear to have been frozen at any point along their journey. The bottles, corks, capsules, are all in perfect condition and the juice inside appears fine with appropriate fills.

Do you think these bottles are undamaged? Thanks for the advice.

As long as they didn't freeze they should be OK.

Thanks, GA.

I'm sure they're fine. It's not likely they froze if the corks appear normal.

If a wine has gotten so cold, isn't it likely it sucked in some air?
And if so, it's probably better to warm up the bottles while they are standing up so when the juice expands it doesn't push out actual wine through the cork, and only pushes air out.

Opinions? I have this happen as well (cold wine) and while it wasn't damaged, I was worried that it perhaps sucked some air in and spead up the aging process.

If the wine gets cold, it's conceivable the cork might retract slightly, but when returned to cellar temperature, it should (theoretically) return to its original position. The cork should be tight enough to prevent any air intrusion.

What is "cold"? What do you estimate the temp @, mletson?

While I do not keep my wines any colder than 53deg. I have heard people & restaurants go as low as 45deg (especially on the whites).

LCC, tough to estimate how cold they were. I would defintely say they were colder than a beer from an ice chest. If I had to guess, I would say upper 30's (maybe even as low as mid-thirties).

I didn't get a chance to take them home last night, so they sat upright in my office overnight. No problems with the corks. Looks like I'm in the clear. Thanks for he replies, folks.

I've received plenty of cold wine (like refrigerator cold) from California due to shipping during the winter. If the wine hasn't frozen (corks pushed out will likely be the only evidence) then you're probably ok. I've never had a problem with damage.

Even if the wine freezes, the only direct result is that certain colloids and insolubles wil fall out of the wine causing a sediment. Then you'll have to decant the wine. But it should be fine.

An unplanned cold-stabilization if you like...

I have accidentally frozen wine before and still had several glasses of it. No obvious change in the flavors. The cork on one of the bottles did come out a bit, however, and we had to drink that one right away. Oh darn.

I know what you mean, I once had a bottle freeze entirely. The cork came out of the bottle, through the foil.

I had a bottle of Champagne partially freeze. Was not a good thing!

Davidn - I can imagine. Champagne is the one thing that I will not fool with. I revere it too much. I stand in awe at the altar of Moet and the feet of Chandon.

And, yes, I've had a few glasses tonight. Just to show you I did, it took me three edits and about twice as many keystrokes to get this post completed. The backspace key is my friend.

*hic*

Lilac,

Hi heee ho Looilac!

Drinking posting while smakes no differnec in whta you are spraying. I'm in 2rd battle nad absolootli NO) impact tall. I shunt b edittttttingh this for shhooor.

WDOT.. I understood every word. No need to edit!

WDOT was pretty chatty last night.

He has a new high speed modem at home. Lord help us!

Why would I edit?