For those that remember reading about my little experiment two weeks ago, here are the (non-scientific) results.
I ended up leaving the bottles in the gararge for 7 days. The low temps varied from +5 degrees F to +23 degrees F. The highs, at most, were +30 degrees F. The B.Nouveau, which was in a styrofoam shipper, ended up throwing a lot of sediment!!!! I decanted it to be certain that is wasn't just ice particles. It was in fact sediment. The Potelle Zin, which was left free standing, appeared to not be affect at all. No freezing and no sediment was "created". I actually had a glass last night and it was just like I remember when I last had it. Possible reasoning for the difference in results. My first thought was the alcohol content. The BN is 13% while the Zin was 14.5%. How much difference would 1.5% make in this case? Perhaps other components such as tannin and acidity, which are more in a zin than the BN. Also, body "weight" of the wine perhaps made a difference. How would a light Pinot Noir fare in this experiment?? On the contrary, I bet that a Turley Zin, at 17.5% alcohol would fare well, but I won't try. :-)
During the exact time of this test, I had at case of ZD cab 2000 shipped to me from CA via UPS "ground". When it arrived, the bottles appeared to be a fine shape. Granted, these wines were only exposed to somewhat extreme cold temps in the last 3 days of travel. Plus, the wine being shipped didn't sit motionless like the bottles in my garage. Another difference.
Well, this was interesting. I hope that others find it helpful.
Cheers!
Eric in VT