Yes. Wine Spectator's Dr. Vinny says freezing leftover wine to drink or cook with later is fine, as long as you use a container with room for the wine to expand. He doesn't recommend the freezer for long-term aging.

At what temperature does wine freeze?

Dr. Vinny puts it at about 15 to 20°F for most wine, depending on alcohol content. A University of Illinois physics answer estimates about -6°C (21°F) from the alcohol in a 12.5% wine, and says a cold car gives you wine slush rather than solid ice.

Can wine explode or crack in the freezer?

A full bottle can crack or push out its cork, because the water in the wine expands as it freezes. Wine Enthusiast warns that a bottle left too long in the freezer can lose its cork or break.

Is wine still good after it has been frozen?

Usually, for drinking soon or cooking. Dr. Vinny says thawed wine can taste surprisingly fresh, and that a frozen bottle with its cork still in place and no cracks is probably fine. If the cork was pushed out, air may have got in.

What are the crystals in thawed wine?

Most likely tartrate crystals. Dr. Vinny says they are harmless and often form when wine is exposed to very cold temperatures.

Can You Freeze Wine? Freezing Point and Leftover Tips

Yes, you can freeze wine, just not in a full, corked bottle. Leftover wine frozen in an ice cube tray or a container with headroom keeps well for cooking, and Wine Spectator’s Dr. Vinny says thawed wine can taste surprisingly fresh. What you shouldn’t do is leave a full bottle in the freezer: the water in the wine expands as it freezes and can push out the cork or crack the glass. Here is the freezing point of wine, what freezing does to it, how to freeze leftovers and what to do if you’ve forgotten a bottle.

The freezing point of wine

Wine freezes at a lower temperature than water, because alcohol (and, to a smaller extent, sugar) lowers the freezing point.

Source	Freezing point given
Wine Spectator, Dr. Vinny	About 15 to 20°F for most wine, depending on alcohol content
University of Illinois physics Q&A, for a 12.5% wine	About -6°C (21°F) from the alcohol alone, a little lower with sugars and other dissolved substances
Water, for comparison	32°F (0°C)

The two figures don’t match exactly, and that’s expected. Stronger and sweeter wines freeze at lower temperatures than light, dry ones. Dr. Vinny also notes that wine has to stay at that temperature for a while before it freezes solidly.

Why wine turns to slush first

The University of Illinois answer explains a useful detail: when ice starts to form in wine, the ice is almost pure water. That leaves the remaining liquid more concentrated in alcohol and sugar, so it freezes at an even lower temperature. The result, at first, is slush rather than a solid block. That’s the same reason a frozen mix of rosé stays soft enough to scoop; see our guide to frosé.

Why bottles crack or push out their corks

Water expands when it freezes, and wine is mostly water. Dr. Vinny explains that as the water in a bottle of wine freezes, it presses against the cork, which can start to come out, and against the glass, which can crack. He has described finding bottles of still wine leaking a sticky mess after being left in the freezer.

Wine Enthusiast gives the same warning about quick chilling. Its advice is to wrap the bottle in wet paper towels, put it in the freezer and set a 15-minute timer, because a forgotten bottle can come back with its cork popped out or broken, and a messy freezer.

Important: Never leave a full bottle in the freezer to “chill for later”. If you need a bottle cold fast, Dr. Vinny calls a bucket of ice and water the safest method, taking about 20 to 30 minutes.

What freezing does to wine

Flavor. Dr. Vinny wrote in 2019 that in his own trials, wine tasted remarkably fresh after thawing. He calls freezing a favorite way for some wine lovers to save leftovers.

Aging. He is clear, though, that the freezer isn’t a place for long-term aging. Freeze wine you plan to drink or cook with soon, not bottles you’re saving for years.

Bubbles. Freezing and thawing will likely knock the carbonation out of sparkling wine, according to Dr. Vinny. We’d use thawed Prosecco or Champagne for cooking or a sauce, not for a toast.

Crystals. You may see small, glassy crystals after thawing. Dr. Vinny says these are tartrate crystals, which are harmless and often form when wine gets very cold. We’d simply leave them behind in the bottle when pouring.

How to freeze leftover wine for cooking

This is the most useful reason to freeze wine. America’s Test Kitchen’s method:

Pour 1 tablespoon of wine into each well of an ice cube tray.
Freeze until solid.
Pop the cubes out with a knife and store them in a zipper-lock bag.
Drop cubes into sauces as needed.

Dr. Vinny likes wine cubes for the same reason: a few are handy when you want to deglaze a pan without opening a new bottle. Because each cube is a tablespoon, they also make measuring easy. Four cubes are a quarter cup.

A few tips of our own:

Label the bag with the wine color and date, so you don’t put red wine cubes in a white wine risotto.
Freeze wine that’s still sound. A bottle that already smells of vinegar won’t get better in the freezer. Our guide to how long wine lasts after opening explains how to tell.
Use a container with headroom if you’re freezing a larger amount. Dr. Vinny’s rule is to always freeze wine in a container that allows for expansion.

For which wines are worth cooking with in the first place, see our guides to the best white wine for cooking and the best red wine for cooking.

You forgot a bottle in the freezer: now what?

It happens. What to do depends on what you find:

What you find	What to do
Bottle intact, cork in place, wine slushy or frozen	We’d thaw it in the fridge, standing upright. Dr. Vinny says an intact bottle with its cork in place is likely fine: “drink up”.
Cork pushed partly out, bottle intact	We’d thaw it upright in a bowl in the fridge. Dr. Vinny warns that some air may have got in, which can age the wine prematurely, so drink it or cook with it soon.
Glass cracked or broken	In our view, don’t drink it. Let it thaw in a bowl or tray to catch the wine, then throw it away carefully with the broken glass.
Sparkling wine	Expect the bubbles to be mostly gone after thawing, per Dr. Vinny. Use it for cooking.

Note: A cracked bottle can hide small glass fragments in the wine. We’d never strain and drink wine from a broken bottle.

Dr. Vinny’s only reservation about a bottle that froze but stayed sealed is aging: he expects it to be fine once thawed, but is less confident about how it will develop over many years. Treat it as a bottle to open soon.

Wine left in a cold car or garage

The same physics applies to bottles left in a car trunk or an unheated garage in winter; the University of Illinois question was about a bottle in a car trunk. Going by Dr. Vinny’s figures, a night just below 32°F is unlikely to freeze a bottle solid, since wine has to stay around 15 to 20°F for a while, but a long cold snap in the teens can. If you bring home a bottle with a pushed-up cork, treat it like one forgotten in the freezer.

When freezing is part of winemaking

One wine is made by freezing on purpose. Ice wine is pressed from grapes that freeze naturally on the vine; most of the water stays behind as ice, so only very sweet juice runs out. That’s freezing the grapes, though, not the finished wine, and the finished bottle should be stored like any other.