+1
I seem to be getting more sensitive as I get older? All I know is the frequency of my opening corked bottles seems to be increasing. And you’d think it would be decreasing what with cork companies supposedly screening corks and trying to reduce the percentage of infected ones getting into bottling lines.
And I’d say I’m a little more sensitive than average. Just based on a few tastings I’ve participated in with other people where I have detected a bottle to be corked but less than half of the other tasters noticing it.
I too wonder how much my “high sensitivity” to TCA is down to imagination.
From detecting TCA a couple of times in wine not sealed with cork (still possible but unlikely) on the one hand, but many experiences of opening a second bottle to find it was a vast improvement on the other, I conclude that it is rarely my imagination. But imagination is always a possibility, and I am happy to acknowledge that in borderline cases.
On his blog, Jamie Goode has this to say:
People differ in their sensitivity to TCA. The human olfaction system needs to be taken into account in assessments of the rate of cork taint. > Studies have shown that people differ markedly in their sensitivity to different odorants, with individual differences in sensitivity as high as a factor of 10 000. > There is every reason to suppose that even the most highly skilled wine tasters will have different biological sensitivities to TCA. This explains the often reported incidents where two wine experts (MWs even) have disagreed about whether a particular wine is corked or not.
Oliver McCrum told me that he had himself tested and he can pick up TCA at about one-sixth the average person’s threshold. So what Sarah, Brian and Mike say about variations seems be borne out by rigorous testing.
Goode adds, presumably alluding to things like the muting of flavors generally by TCA:
Having said this, even if one’s individual sensitivity to TCA is low, a corked bottle will presumably differ from a pristine one in other respects too.
I am fairly TCA insensitive. I don’t know if I’m lucky or have the palate of a yak but I don’t encounter full-on wet cardboard too often.
What I do find is that telltale flattening of fruit or deadening of nose that can be traced to taint. But to be honest, I’m often not sure if the wine just isn’t closed as opposed to be suffering from mild taint. At those times I wish maybe I was more sensitive so the marker was more overt …
I’m pretty sensitive to TCA, and if I open a bottle that is corked I typically will recognize the cork taint before the wine is even poured. At tastings and dinners, one thing that I have noticed is that the longer you continue to smell and drink a corked wine, the less noticeable the corkiness is. But if you let the glass sit for 5 minutes, drink something else, and then go back to the corked wine it is obvious again.
To me, this remains a major issue, especially with ‘knowledgeable’ wine drinkers. ‘Flattening of fruit’ or ‘deadening of nose’ are sometimes simply too subjective to be correlated from taster to taster. And unless you are truly familiar with this specific wine and where it is in its development, there would be no way to know whether it is simply ‘shut down’ or lightly affected by TCA.
Cheers.
+1
But the muting effect is not trivial. Per Vincyclopedia:
The Australian Wine Research Institute conducted experiments in early 2003, that demonstrated even a very low level of contamination, as little as one or two nanograms (billionth of a gram) per liter, suppresses positive fruit aroma character in wine by as much as 50%.
I have two theories on this: one is easy, your receptors get pretty easily saturated, so if you smell a wine with significant TCA, then come back to it fairly quickly, you’re likely to notice it less. Takes some time to recover (just like the first wine of the day always seems to have a lot of intensity, because your taste receptors are completely fresh).
Another theory is, because TCA is a fairly large molecule, it takes a while for it to both escape from the liquid surface and diffuse up through the airs space in your glass. You’ll smell smaller, faster moving compounds (like SO2) much earlier. That’s one reason I postulate that it can take time for TCA to become apparent in a wine.
I think the first, simpler theory is the best. I’ve had the misfortune to attend tastings on several occasions in places that had been freshly painted and had strong paint aromas. After a few minutes, the background smells were much less noticeable and you could taste past them, at least mostly. It seems your nose kind of baselines things with a few minutes exposure.
Slightly off-topic but popped to mind: what about the idea, based on the biodynamic school’s assertion, which I have seen mentioned by Jancis - that there are so days which are better for drinking.
Don’t remember the details exactly, something like wines are better consumed on fruit or flower days than root days - does anyone recall?
I have definitely experienced days in which I hope several bottles of wine and none of them taste good. But it doesn’t mean that any of them were corked.
Great points indeed. I would think that things like ambient temperature, barometric pressure, and weather you are slightly sick or not will definitely affect how things smell and taste. Then there’s the whole biodynamic thing as well 
My wife is much more sensitive than I am. I can smell truly awful corked bottles, but the more subtle cork taint I perceive as just flat and stripped of some flavor. She picks it up as corked right away and is always proved right as the bottle opens up and the problem gets worse. I personally think women in general have better olofactory senses than men.
I pick up on TCA faster than my wife does, but I don’t believe I’m more sensitive, just more sensitized. I really didn’t start quickly noticing all the various flaws in wine and identify them until I started attending lots of large tastings. Now it is rare that I don’t identify TCA at least a fast as others tasting the same wine, but there are cases when someone else claims a wine is corked and I don’t smell it at all. I’ve found that in borderline cases there is almost always dissension even among experienced tasters.
A complicating factor is the presence of other flaws in addition to the marginal TCA. I recall a recent time a few of us immediately pegged a bottle of white Burgundy as being TCA affected, while others said it was just reductive and the sulfur compounds would blow off. It was reductive, and later the sulfur had dissipated, but the wine was still corked. There was one bottle at the post IPNC Pinot Noir tasting that had a similar story. In that case, the bottle opened at the other table was different, but still flawed in some way.
P Hickner
That sounds just like me. Rarely get the full wet cardboard smell, but do get the muted aromas and flavors often enough to wonder.
It`s been my experience that in general, women are much more sensitive than men and when I have a hint of taint, I defer to my wife who has a significantly heightened olfactory sense than I do. One time when opening a bottle in the kitchen, she picked up on it from across the room.
In many instances, I find my perception is greater than most of my wine buddies and they argue its not corked or get into a pissing contest about it. Cork taint is just that regardless of perception. I would trust you to have that together. It does not blow off. Some define TCA as also devoid of fruit. Ive had many bottles that contained TCA and had some fruitiness, so I not on that side of the definition.
I am fairly sensitive to corked bottles and TCA effected bottles.
Two weeks ago at a well known tasting room with some staff employed for years, all experienced and well trained to taste every bottle prior to pouring, I detected a corked bottle being poured. Interestingly, one gent working there has an incredibly sensitive nose for Brett( he is asked to taste barrels regularly at one of this board’s fav Pinot producers) and did not pick it up. There is another confirmation of selective sensitivities. BTW, he smokes cigarettes!?
I also detect low levels of Brett easily, such as a mildly corked bottle of 1976 d’Yquem at dinner we hosted which included a few wine merchants and one of the most experienced and highly regarded California winemakers and his wife and several very sophisticated consumers. Nobody else at the table picked it up, but all agreed once I mentioned it. I did hesitate, but I did it immediately to reduce potential incremental embarrassment. And yes, there was a backup bottle of the same–Yay!
Why keep your knowledge and experience hidden from the insensitive or novices? I do inform people they are drinking flawed wine with no hestitation, but do so diplomatically, so they can learn to identify the flaw if they are capable of the perception.
There were a couple of references to women with higher sensitivities to wine flaws. I have a simple question–do those women cook as well? I have noticed experience cooks who play with recipes to improve them, or make up their own, can transition their proclivities to wine tasting effortlessly.
Same here. This has happened to me often enough in either direction that I wonder if there aren’t other factors that can influence TCA sensitivity on a day to day basis besides innate genetic sensitivity.
I am fairly TCA sensitive, but my wife is more-so. If I suspect, she is the final authority. I have pointed out corked bottles a couple of times in tasting rooms or wineries. it can be pretty awkward depending on the who is working the tasting room and how much they understand about TCA.
I can also detect Brett fairly well, but don’t mind it unless over the top.
On average, women have better senses of smell than men. It’s not just wine, TCA and food.