"Slightly" Corked Wines

One thing that I’ve always been curious about are some of the various references that you see on the boards to “slightly corked” wines, or that the general public may not “realize a wine was corked”, etc. I’m also learning that I much prefer the old world style of reds - less fruit forward, lower alcohol, more earthiness, etc. However, I’m curious whether I could sometimes be mistaking a barnyard “funk” nose on a wine. At the risk of asking what may seem a dumb question, how does one distinguish a “slightly” corked wine? I’m sure I’ll pick it up with more experience, but if anyone has thoughts, I’d love to hear them. “newhere”

Most of what people call barnyard funk is usually some form of brett. Corkiness is a very sharp, musty odor. Think wet cardboard with a sharp note. It also will get worse with air (rather than dissipate). Slightly corked wines will have less of this and at some point the odor will be almost imperceptible (or will be imperceptible) but the fruit and aromas will be muted or absent. Most people who taste a wine that they know to have a good level of fruit will, if they taste a bottle that’s got little or no fruit, assume it’s very lightly corked.Some people will refer to the wine has being ‘scalped’ too. Note that TCA boils off below the boiling point of water, so you can use a corked wine to cook with as long as it will eventually go above boiling. Oh and there’s no real reason corked wines will be more prevalent in the old world vs the new. It’s got nothing to do with the wine style but either happens because of TCA in the cork or, more rarely, contamination in the winery.

TCA is measured in parts per trillion (PPT) For most people the detection range is in the 4-8 PPT range. Few people can detect it under 1PPT, but some people can. Above 12PPT the detection rate nears 100%. So in a sense a wine could be ‘slightly’ corked at between 1-4 PPT where most people could not detect it but some could. This is one reason why people sometimes disagree about if a wine is corked or not. To give you an idea of how little contamination we’re talking about here sulfur is measured in parts per MILLION (PPM) and almost all wine has at least 25PPM with some having as much as 300 PPM.

You might be right that TCA somehow goes away when you boil wine - but not because you exceed its boiling point, which is around 250C at atmospheric pressure. It’s actually solid below 60C! If any one is interested, I discuss this point at some length here in a blog post: http://www.winenous.co.uk/wp/archives/163 But I agree with what you said in direct reply to the initial query. I’d only add that it is not at all easy to recognise slightly corked wines, and I am sure that many experienced people call it wrong too - however confident they may sound. If I had a dog I would train it up on clearly corked bottles, and get it to tell me when one can mild cork taint.

Brian: heavily corked wines are easy to spot once you become familiar with it. As far a sslightly corked, I have also been confused by slight funkiness and needed to go back to confirm. And I don’t consider myself to be a beginner by any stretch of the imagination. I have also LOVED wines that another oenophile swore was ‘slightly corked’. (and trust me, no way was I going to stop drinking it even it someone did claim TCA- it was awesome, IMO). Does it have to do with sensitivity levels, or do some people over call TCA? Maybe a bit of both. I guess the bottom line is… no easy answer.

There are myriad maladies that can cause funk and off bottles. The only way to really know whether a wine is ‘off’ is to have prior experience with the wine multiple times over its evolution. As far as specifically corked wines, as the previous posts have mentioned TCA sensitivity is relative, both based on personal perception and personal experience. I am highly sensitive and therefore, for me there are no ‘slightly’ corked wines. Either they are corked, or they are otherwise defective, or they are ‘normal’ which can still have some relative variation in terms of the experience. Hope I cleared that up for you… “pileon”

This is a big issue, too, the lack of distinction between various flaws. I know a lot of wine pros who use “corked” as a generic term for almost any type of flaw, obvious ones like oxidation and maderization aside. Particularly when a bottle is just a bit off, are they quick to call it “slightly corked,” with no other examination of what might be causing the problem. It’s a little frustrating sometimes, because knowing there are other types of compounds that cause off flavors and odors, I can’t help but wonder if it’s possible to discern between them.

Thanks Paul. I learn something new every day - or at least, try to. Best, Jim

Personally, I think the best way to able to identify “slightly corked” wines is to be exposed to a heavily corked wine - when you do, really pay attention to what it smells like and tastes like. Once you really learn what it’s like, it gets burned into your sense memory, and then you can recognize it even in small doses. At least, that’s how it happened for me. I experience brett generally as band-aid notes, or sometimes, a horsey or leather kind of thing. Corkiness comes off as a much more woody, musty, slightly moldy thing, so a different family of aromas. Another thing to look for as a sign of corkiness is a muted sense to the fruit and other flavors you normally get in a wine. If the flavors are very vivid, it’s probably not corked in my experience, but may have some other flaw.

Try refusing a slightly corked wine in a restaurant. It can definitely make for a tense few minutes or so. It’s so much easier when the wine is absolutely corked. When I detect a tiny bit of TCA in a wine that’s served in a restaurant, I tell the server I believe the wine is corked and that they should smell it. Every restaurant is different, and the more wine-friendly the spot, or experienced the server, the less likely they’ll even question the corked wine claim. About 5 times though (over 25 years) I’ve had to give them this challenge: Leave the corked wine at the table, and bring another bottle. Pour another taste and we’ll smell that side by side with the first bottle. If they’re not completely different, I’ll buy both bottles. If they are different, then the first one was most likely corked. I haven’t lost this challenge yet, but twice the servers were reluctant to agree with me.

“slightly corked” - is that like “a little pregnant” ?

I find it difficult to explain ‘slightly corked’ to most people, because, for me, when a wine is slightly corked, you won’t get the telltale ‘wet cardboard’ aromas . . . Instead, the wine’s aromatics will be severely muted.

The best exercise for this is taking part in ‘cork trials’ at a winery or lab near you - it really can be illuminating.

Cheers!

Ed; the challenge becomes interesting when the 2nd bottle is also corked. I have, on 2 occasions, been a party to the occurrence of three consecutive bottles of the same wine being corked, each more egregiously than the previous one. Your bet doesn’t look so good after those events…

If you think a wine is corked, or lacking aroma (another clue), taste it, and if it has a metallic taste on your palate, it’s corked.

Really? I’ve never encountered that in correlation with TCA. I HAVE noticed a strong relation with heavy brett and a metallic finish on wines. TCA just kills the fruit. If not initially, stop swirling the glass and let it sit 15-30 minutes. It will end up being only acid and tannin.

Why would brett be metallic, it has no relation whatsoever that I know of?

TCA has a “tinny” taste to it.

I don’t think there is a “relation” between TCA and metallic notes either.

As it so happens I have a badly corked wine in my decanter right now. No metallic or tinny feel at all though the fruit is pretty much gone. All acid and tannin.

The very bretty St Cosme I had early in the week had that stainless steel metallic quality on the finish. Here is my note from then:

• 2007 Saint-Cosme Côtes du Rhône - France, Rhône, Southern Rhône, Côtes du Rhône (12/14/2010)
  Strong sweaty sock brett on the nose with some boysenberry and cassis underneath. Some greenish woody notes also that come into the palate as well. The brett is confirmed with a metallic feel on the finish. The fruit is wide open and rich and there is strong late tannin. The brett put a damper on an otherwise good wine. Its just a bit too strong. Otherwise this is still on its way up.

Posted from CellarTracker

If you can’t tell if a wine is corked, does it matter? Kind of like the tree falling the woods with no one around.

I see people agonize and argue over this issue all the time. If Person(s) A thinks a wine is corked, but Person(s) B thinks the wine is fine and good, why not just let Person B enjoy the wine? I see this often where Person A is convinced and then tries all evening to convince anyone in the Person B category and maybe insist on pouring the wine down the drain. If Person B is happy, why not state your opinion, then let them be?

Chris

and then remember to never open anything “good” for them again. what the hell, they can’t tell, right?

Coincidentally, I believe I had a slightly corked wine last night. It was a 2001 Tardieu Laurent Gigondas, my 6th & last bottle. I’ve drunk the wine 5 times before so I know what it’s supposed to smell & taste like. I’m also pretty sensitive to TCA & corked wines. This is the 1st wine that was so slightly corked, I could drink the bottle. I noticed a slight smell of wet cardboard mustiness, then I’d swirl the wine, smell it again, and then I was not sure I smelled it anymore. This kept happening, but the wine definitely didn’t have the pleasant aromas I knew from previous bottles. On the palate, I noticed the characteristics were not quite the same as I had tasted previously, more subdued flavors, but it didn’t taste bad. I didn’t smell cork taint on the cork either, which I can usually pick up right away. Very unusual. My wife noticed the flaw also but couldn’t drink the wine.