My wife and I are clearly not wine drinkers, so we refrigerated this bottle along with several other bottles of wine (other varieties) just because we thought we'd use them eventually...

So again, have we ruined the merlot (and probably the others)?

Thanks!

Also, I read that someone said instead of drinking it use it in a food recipe. If it is ruined drinking wise, can it be used in food and taste fine?

Concerning cooking with wine, you only use a wine that you would also enjoy drinking. Inexpensive wine is one thing. Bad wine is quite another.