Ever open a bottle of wine that just tastes wrong--musty and dank instead of fresh and fruity? It so, you may have fallen victim to a "corked" wine--that is, one contaminated with TCA, a chemical compound caused by a type of fungus that can develop in natural cork. TCA robs wine of its fruity character and makes it smell and taste like a mildewy basement. Lovely.
In my work, I run across my share of corked wines--maybe about a dozen per year. But during a visit to a Napa wine bar a couple months ago, I was treated to a six-bottle run of hideously corked Umbrian rosé. After I let the bartender know about the bad bottle (which was nearly empty after many by-the-glass pourings), she uncorked multiple replacement bottles, only to find the same musty result inside each one. Amazing! We finally gave up and switched to a flight of Napa red wines, and guess what we found--yep, another corked wine. "Call Guinness!", I said. "This either has to be a world record, or I really need a beer."
Finding Fault at Copia
If you're unsure of what a corked wine smells like, get your nostrils on down to Copia, in Napa. In the lobby are a bunch of nifty wine-o-matic machines that demonstate different aromas, flavors and characteristics of wine. One dispenser's theme is "Finding Faults With Wine," which includes samples of wines affected by various flaws like TCA and Brett (a yeast-gone-bad that can give wine a nasty band-aid or barnyard smell). Here's how the machine works: stick a card (like a credit card, sold in Copia's main lobby) into the slot, put your glass under the spout and press the putton to dispense a taste of wine (anywhere from an ounce to a full glass, depending on how much you want to pay for). They have similar tasting machines at VinoVenue, in San Francisco, but Copia's have a fun, educational twist.
In addition to tainted wine, other dispensers are set up to let you compare wines made with different types of oak (French, American or oak chips) or with different winemaking methods. It's one thing to read about the concepts of TCA, Brett and malolactic fermentation, but it's a lot more fun when you have examples right in front of you to smell, taste and compare.
Once you're able to identify a corky wine, you'll be able to try this Mr.-Science-like trick: Wad a sheet of plastic wrap (as in Saran) into a ball and swish it around in the glass for a minute or two. Then take it out and smell the wine again. Though the fruit will still be muted, the musty smell will be gone! (Or, nearly gone.) Apparently, the TCA adheres to the plastic, and is removed when you take it out of the glass. Cool, eh?
Recent Comments