Can a Corked Wine Be Saved?
The nightmare of any tasting! Have you ever opened a bottle and recognised that corky smell or taste? Let’s see if it’s possible to turn this unpleasant surprise around.
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WHAT IS A CORKED WINE?
A wine is said to be corked when it has a "corky taste". This is a defect in the wine caused by the molecule TCA (trichloroanisole), which alters its taste and spoils it. The presence of this molecule gives the wine an unpleasant smell of rotting wood, mustiness and dust. On the palate, it tastes like wet cardboard with a pronounced corky aroma. It's not bad for your health, but the wine is just too unpleasant to drink. Needless to say, the result is a far cry from the taste the winemaker was aiming for.
HOW TO RECOGNISE A CORKED WINE
You don’t need a trained nose: a corked wine smells too bad not to be recognisable. Start by sniffing the cork before serving wine. This helps you to detect any hints of the characteristic smell. It is often the case that the smell is superficial - just throw the first few millilitres away and then check the rest of the bottle to make sure it’s unaffected.
The smell is not always noticeable as soon as the bottle is open, but it becomes more and more perceptible as it comes into contact with the air. So, if the wine has already been poured, there is no point in moving it around the glass. If you still have any doubts, leave the wine to breathe for ten minutes or so and the smell will only get stronger.
WHERE DOES THIS WINE PROBLEM COME FROM?
The corked taste comes from the cork itself, which is contaminated by the TCA. The contamination might come from the cork, but it is also found in barrels or even wineries. This means it is not always the result of a mistake. Even when the winemaker or cellar master has taken the utmost care, no wine is completely safe from this unforeseeable, and often inexplicable, problem.
Causes:
- The variety of cork chosen: the defect may be due to parasites living in the bark of cork oaks. It's a shame to cut corners on this material, which is as precious as wine itself. Its production is in decline.
- Moulds that develop in the cork cells in the presence of chlorinated compounds, chlorophenols (which can come from tree bark polluted by insecticides, from the air or from products used in the cellars).
- Mould, perhaps due to untimely handling: bottles should always be laid down to prevent the cork from drying out. It is very bad practice to leave bottles upright and then lying down several times. Your bottles must therefore be stored lying down so that the cork is constantly moistened and prevents too much air from entering the bottle. Storing a bottle of wine upright to avoid contact between the cork and the wine does not prevent cork taint.
WHAT CAN BE DONE WITH A CORKED WINE?
A wine that is completely corked is undrinkable. There is no effective way of eradicating this defect in wine. There are only a few options available to you:
- A slow-cooked dish? Only if the corked taste is not too pronounced and the cooking process is long enough to minimize the problem (for red wines: Beef Bourguignon, Coq au vin; for white wines: blanquette de veau or a white sauce to accompany fish). However, if a wine is too corked, then it will spoil any sauce.
- Vinegar? No: even fermentation won’t take that taste away...unless you need some white wine vinegar to clean your windows...
- Throw the wine down the sink.
- Be sure to discard the cork to avoid further contamination.
- In a restaurant, at the first whiff, ask for the bottle to be changed.
- Return the bottle to the wine merchant.
DOES YOUR WINE SEEM CORKED? LET US KNOW!
If you are unpleasantly surprised by a corky smell when you open the bottle, please let us know. It’s important for us to make sure that this is not a problem affecting all of the products in question. We also need to ensure that this is not the case for other bottles we have in stock. Our experts will look at your case and also subject the product to new tasting, if any doubts arise. If the fault is found again, we will inform the winemaker of possible contamination in a batch of corks, and we will refund you with a voucher.
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