Can wine go moldy?

[lizardbrains]

A friend of ours came over the other evening, and I offered him wine "white or red". He asked for red, which I pulled out of the fridge (it had already been opened a few days prior). He sarcastically said "Could you microwave it at least?!" implying that he thought it should not have been in the fridge. Thus, we got into a discussion about why an opened bottle of red wine was in my fridge.

I explained to him that I didn't want it to go bad, he asked for clarification, and I wittingly said that it could go moldy. (Not that I necessarily believe that, but I do assume that it's probably not the best thing to sit an opened bottle of wine on a counter indefinitely.) He scoffed and asked WHAT would go moldy, and I said "it's grape juice", to which he again scoffed. He explained that the "grape juice" ferments in barrels, blah blah blah, and it won't go moldy. I retorted that the rooms/barrels aren't necessarily room temperature, but sometimes chilled.

I am definitely an ameteur when it comes to wine, so I know that many of my assumptions could possibly be wrong.

He seemed quite offended that I was offering him cold red wine. In my house, an opened bottle of wine doesn't always get consumed within a few days of opening, so the reason I stick it in the fridge is to let it last as long as possible before it goes bad (which I realize is probably just a few days anyways).

Do you have any comments on this? I'm sorry I'm so wordy. I really would appreciate hearing your thoughts on the matter. I KNOW you all have the knowledge to help me figure this all out. [img]http://wines.com/ubb2/smile.gif[/img]

Thanks,
Elizabeth