The Auswine Forum

I just purchased a Seppelt Grand Rutherglen Muscat, I have had this before but this one seemed very different. I opened the bottle and initially picked up a whiff from the cork and instantly thought - this is tainted......

I actually had a standard Rutherglen Seppelt muscat and a 12yr old Classic Stanton and Killeen opened all as a comparison. After going back and forth it made it seem even more obvious to me that this appeared to be affected by TCA.

The interesting thing is that the taint seemed different to when occurring in red wine but stll had the same signature nose and taste - The cork was strinkingly tainted, the nose barely perceptable and the palate had slightly muted fruit but a distinctive although subtle corked taste, the aftertaste however seemed to really standout as the sugar and fruit subsided.

To me initially seemed that no it can't be, however after coming back to the muscat over an hour in each aspect seemed to be affected by TCA. I am not sure if this is possible in a fortified wine due to the 18% alcohol normally preserving the 'wine' and preventing spoilage, tossed up idea of this occurring in the wine prior to fortifification - but that would affect the whole batch.

After trying it again just now decided to seek others opinions - have you ever struck a tainted fortified wine - is it even possible....

Cheers
Mark

Yes, Cork taint is possible in muscat and I have posted on this forum some time ago in regard to a badly TCA affected Morris Liquour Muscat I encountered.

The rate seems to be way below that for table wine but this may also be due to the limited numbers consumed. That is at 5% TCA rate if you drink say 400 bottles a year you would encounter around 20 corked bottles. At our place it would take considerably longer to drink 400 bottles of fortifieds, say at a rate of 1 per month. You would have to be unlucky to meet 1 corked bottle a year.

TCA effected fortifieds can and does happen.

You tend not to notice the little bit effected wines because they tend to have so much other things happening as well....bigger sweeter richer .

That said, a great wad of TCA can blow away any fortified if its strong enough!


Cheers
Smithy

We had an all port dinner. The peak was to be a 70 Taylor-Fladgate port. It was badly corked. You could smell it a foot away from the glass. I figure if one of the most famous Portugese producers can't get clean corks, then the rest of us are doomed.

I have also had it in the same wine (ie Seppelt Grand Muscat). Just because it is a short cork with a plastic top makes no difference as to whether it can be corked. Run turn to supplier for replacement.