Corked Wine

Last night I opened a 2006 wine that had beautiful aromas at the time that I was decanting it. When I poured it into my glass and I tasted the wine I just get wet cardboard box in aromas and flavors. The wine was corked. What is a corked wine or cork taint wine? A corked wine, is a wine that has been contaminated by a chemical compound 2,4,6-Trichloroanisole (short name TCA). TCA can be found in corks or some times in the cellars. 3 to 5 % of wines are tainted by TCA. Which, as far as I know, it is not harmful to humans. What are the characteristics of a corked wine? The wine smell like a wet newspaper, wet cardboard box, or some people say it is like a basement after a flood (I don’t have a basement and have not been in a flood). It tastes moldy — not pleasant to taste at all. That is the reason that the faulty agent is the cork. Still, when you catch a wine in the earliest stages of being corked, there may be some doubt, like the one that we had yesterday. Also, if a wine is served cold, you may not catch the smell of the taint, but as the time passes the TCA is more noticeable. What to do? Put back the cork on the wine bottle and take it back to the store where you buy it or ask the waitress for a different wine bottle.