It’s a more common occurrence than we care for, but one that we’ve just accepted as an unpleasant inevitability in wine drinking. If you’ve ever had the experience of opening a cork-tainted bottle of wine, you know its cruel power well. If you haven’t, you may have heard a friend describe a wine as being “corked” and wondered to yourself what that meant. Put simply, cork taint is a wicked little problem that completely destroys wine with no care in the world as to how precious or valuable or extraordinary that wine may be.
So what is cork taint, and how can you tell if your wine has been compromised?
What causes cork taint?
Cork taint is a wine contaminant caused by aroma compounds with a musty, wet, newspaper-like smell. Most commonly, this comes from the chemical compound 2,4,6-trichloroanisole (TCA). TCA is formed in tree bark when bacteria like mold or fungi come in contact with certain insecticides and fungicides that were used years ago and stubbornly remain in the soil today, cleverly working their way into the wood that will become wine corks. Once a wine has been in contact with these contaminated corks, it will become instantly tainted. There are other ways in which wine might become tainted with TCA, such as from barrels or other winemaking equipment, but corks are the most common culprit.
Remarkably, humans can smell TCA between two and five parts per trillion, which is comparable to detecting one teaspoon of water from 1,000 Olympic-sized swimming pools. Because of this sensitivity, cork taint is relatively easy to detect in wine if you know what to look for.
What does cork taint do to wine?
While drinking wine that is cork-tainted is perfectly safe, it certainly won’t be a pleasant experience. In obvious cases of cork taint, the wine will have a musty, wet-dog smell that no one would ever want to drink. In more subtle instances, though, the wine may only have tiny traces of these offputting flavors. Unfortunately, the presence of TCA does more than give your wine a bad taste. Even in small amounts, TCA will impede the natural flavors of wine, making the wine seem lackluster when it would otherwise be a vivacious bottle.
How to detect cork taint
If you’ve ever ordered a bottle of wine at a restaurant, you’re likely familiar with the little tasting ceremony you and the server are expected to perform. After presenting you with the bottle you’ve ordered and confirming it is the correct vintage, the server will uncork the bottle, set the cork on the table, and then pour a small amount of wine into your glass for you to taste. If you’re an introvert like me, this little song and dance can feel a bit awkward as everyone at the table falls silent, watching you swirl and sniff, waiting for your verdict. While the formality of this ritual may make you a bit tense, the point of it is for you to make sure the wine doesn’t have any flaws – particularly cork taint. But how do you know what to look and taste for when performing this little song and dance?
First, smell the cork. In proper etiquette, the server will have set it on the table discreetly to your right after opening the bottle. Pick it up and give it a subtle whiff. A wine that is considerably corked will have a musty, wet-cardboard smell that will be easily detectable on the cork. If the cork smells fine, taste the wine. Keep in mind that cork taint can be subtle in small amounts but will still ruin a nice bottle. In tasting your wine, there should be no trace of must or any unnatural dryness on the palate.
How winemakers prevent cork taint
Winemakers have been frustratingly attempting to combat cork taint for decades, seemingly with little to no success. Methods like soaking corks in alcohol solutions or testing individual corks for TCA all seem to help, but not stop this hindrance altogether. These methods aren’t foolproof and are usually quite expensive, which negatively affects both the winemaker and the consumer.
Of course, screwcaps have become tremendously popular in recent years, in large part due to this issue. Because there is no organic material involved with the making of screwcaps, there is no risk of cork taint and therefore allows the drinker to rest easy on these concerns. But, of course, as with most things that evolve for the better, there is still some stigma around such a change. Traditionalists continue to argue that wine just isn’t the same without the pop and preservation of a good old-fashioned cork. And while we hate to sit on the side of antiquation, we tend to agree. So with our cork-taint-detecting skills in hand, we forge ahead.
