I've already admitted I'm not a great taster but can someone describe a corked wine to me.
I've had one really badly corked wine which smelt awful, like mouldy cardboard but I've never identified a mildly cork tainted wine.
I've drunk a few bottles so I'm sure I must have come across one but I'm probably one of those dopes who gets a cork tainted wine and just thinks it's not very nice and doesn't buy that wine again.
Can someone describe what a mildly cork tainted wine is like.
Corked wines
Ratty,
Moderate to severly corked wines are easy to identify as you point out. Wet dog, wet cardboard, wet carpet. When sever you will smell it as you pull the cork.
However just a touch of TCA can be very difficult to spot unless you know the wine well or are willing and able to open a second bottle of the same for comparison.
Look for flat lifeless nose, flat palate with lack of fruit and a short finish.
I am sure others more expert in the field will correct me.
Moderate to severly corked wines are easy to identify as you point out. Wet dog, wet cardboard, wet carpet. When sever you will smell it as you pull the cork.
However just a touch of TCA can be very difficult to spot unless you know the wine well or are willing and able to open a second bottle of the same for comparison.
Look for flat lifeless nose, flat palate with lack of fruit and a short finish.
I am sure others more expert in the field will correct me.
I have the same problem of seldom being confidant in declaring a wine corked. I read somewhere that the industry average for corked wine is as high as 5-10%, but we drink more than 400 bottles/year at home and only about 2 or 3 go down the sink because they are so bad they might kill you if you drank them. Restaurants too are pretty cavalier about corked wine. Once after finishing a bottle we ordered another bottle of the same wine and it tasted nowhere as good as the first, and this was especially noticeable because my wife still had half a glass left from the first bottle. I pointed this out to the waiter and was told, "thatÂ’s fine then, we'll serve this by the glass".
Cheers,
Bob
The best opinions, like the best wines, are well balanced.
Bob
The best opinions, like the best wines, are well balanced.
-
Guest
i think oxidation is the bigger problem rather than TCA and oxidation is more of a subjective opinion that you make, in terms of whether a wine is corked or not. I think this has an impact on figures
i also believe that whilst the industry average is 4%, this is skewed towards the bigger more knowledgable users, who can baseline wines through their everyday contact, rather than the humble consumer who may only come in contact with three or four bottles a week
NN
i also believe that whilst the industry average is 4%, this is skewed towards the bigger more knowledgable users, who can baseline wines through their everyday contact, rather than the humble consumer who may only come in contact with three or four bottles a week
NN