Corked or Tainted Wine

A corked or tainted wine is usually caused by a byproduct of fungus growing on the cork. This byproduct is called 1,2,4-tricholoanisole or TCA. TCA in your wine will give off a moldy or musty smell, although you might not be able to pick up the bad smell from the cork alone.

Contaminations, including TCA, can be passed to corks through the air, resulting in bad tasting wine.

Addressing Tainted or Corked Wine

The wine industry loses a lot of money yearly because of tainted or corked wine. The industry is using several different avenues to address corked or tainted wine, including:

•         Sterilizing corks
•         Screw tops
•         Synthetic cords

The problem with screw tops and synthetic corks is that they are associated with inexpensive, cheap wines in many consumers’ minds. Wine producers are often afraid to buck consumers’ perceptions even though alternative corks can result in lower costs for both the manufacturer and the consumer.

Maderized or Cooked Wines

Cooked or maderized wines occur when wines have been stored at temperatures that are too high. Wines should always be stored in cool, dark places so that they will not be affected by heat or light. Unfortunately, wines are not always properly stored, particularly if they are being shipped long distances during hot summer months.

Another way of looking at this is that you should probably not try to use your attic for wine storage, even if there is more space there than in any other part of your home.

Oxidation

Oxygen can be a wine’s enemy, ultimately turning wine into vinegar over time. Oxidation can occur if your bottle has a faulty cork, allowing too much oxygen to come in contact with a wine. Corks can also have a limited shelf life. If an inferior cork is used to stop a fine bottle of wine that should be aged for many years, you might end up with a bad bottle of wine if the cork deteriorates before the wine is properly aged.

Oxidation is also the reason that we have wine stoppers. Wine stoppers will help slow down the oxidation process so that you can drink leftover wine for a day or two after you open the bottle.

Re-fermenting

Having a second fermentation on purpose when making wine is wonderful, resulting in delightful sparkling wines and champagnes. Unplanned re-fermentation in a bottle is disastrous, resulting in a bad tasting wine that might have a little fizz to it.

When a Wine is Not Really Bad

There are several reasons that a wine might taste bad, but is really not.

• No matter how much your friends recommend a wine, you might think that the wine is bad simply because you do not like the taste of it
   
• A wine might taste “bad” because of a poor pairing with food. The same wine that tasted awful might be terrific when paired with another food or when drunk alone.
   
• If there are little white crystals at the bottom of the bottle or sticking to the cork, the wine might not be bad. Tartrate, or potassium hydrogen tartrate, occurs naturally in some kinds of wines. You might consider just filtering the crystals out of your wine before trying the drink.
   
• Similarly, sediments often fall to the bottom of fine wines. Sediments in wines can also be a natural byproduct of the wine making process.
   

~Laura Evans Staff Editor

Laura Evans is a freelance writer living in Southern California.

More On This Subject

Understanding the Differences in White Wines
Red Wines Defined
Save Your Best Wine Tasting Party