If you are a regular wine drinker, you may have heard of the term corked. But what does this actually mean? And when is a wine corked? There are a few common things you might find wrong with your wine and corked is one of the most well known. So much so that it often gets blamed for some of the other common issues! However, it isn’t easily identified which can make it hard to differentiate bad wine from wine that’s gone bad.
Corked wine, or wine impacted by cork taint, occurs in only about 5 per cent of wines bottles using a cork. This means that you are likely to come across this fault a few times. So it’s good to understand when a wine is corked, what causes it and what the tell-tale signs are.
What is cork taint?
When asking what is a corked wine, a good place to start is understanding what this means. You would be forgiven for thinking it meant pieces of cork floating around your wine.
Wine corks are made from trees, which do have some bacteria regardless of how well they are cleaned. Cork taint occurs when natural fungi in the cork come into contact with certain chlorides found in bleaches and other sterilisation products. When they interact, they create a compound called TCA.
If the winery uses infected corks, the wine becomes tainted. TCA makes airborne contact with the wine and destroys the aromatics. Some scientists have even started saying this is because the compound blocks our ability to smell fruit!
When is a wine corked?
Learning how to identify this can take a little bit of practice. Sometimes it may not even be cork taint – you might simply not like what you’re drinking! But a wine work high levels of TCA will have aromas of:
- Musty
- Wet Dog
- Damp Cardboard
- Wet Newspaper
When a wine has low levels of TCA it may not have these aromas. Instead, it will just have no fruit or floral smells and very little flavour.
Cork taint isn’t harmful, it just dulls the wine and makes it all a little unpleasant to drin. How obvious this is depends on the extent of the taint and your sensitivity to it.
However, there is one sure way to tell if this has happened. If the wine has a screw cap, it simply cannot be corked! The percentage of impacted wines went down substantially when the use of screw caps increased. This also applies to other closures such as synthetic corks.
How to fix it
There is no way to fix this issue, unfortunately. The best thing to do is let the Sommelier know so you can get another glass, or return the bottle. This is something you shouldn’t be embarrassed about doing as it does happen! Before you do this though you could ask your wine drinking friend what they think, or take a sip of water to make sure it isn’t just your palate. You could also ask for another glass in case there was a dishwashing issue!
The best way to avoid this is to choose wines with alternative caps. Screw caps have risen in popularity and have many benefits, particularly when aging wine. This is a sure-fire way to avoid this!
I hope this guide has helped shed some light on the question: when is a wine corked. It is a misunderstood topic and can be hard to identify. But understanding why it happens and what to look for will help you the next time you think this has happened!