I have tried to cover this topic numerous times on The Spirits of New Mexico radio show, but we often ran out of time or just zipped through them. However it is an important consideration for all wine lovers so I’m adding it as a blog.
One of the worst experiences a wine lover can have is opening a bottle one has held for a special occasion and finding that it’s off in some way. Was the wine stored or shipped badly, were there problems with the cork, was it hygienic breakdown in the winery or some other viticultural practice fault? Or does the wine just need to be decanted or allowed to open up for a while?
All of these things require some knowledge of wine faults and the proper handling of wines to insure these faults don’t occur. What brought this topic to the foreground was the discovery of two different wine faults found while I was celebrating my birthday. How ironic; a sommelier’s birthday dinner disrupted by wine faults. Here is the list:
- Oxidized wine
- TCA or cork taint
- Sulfur compounds
- Secondary fermentation
- Heat damage
- UV light damage
1. Oxidized wine
Oxidized wines lose their brightness, both in color and in flavor. Deep reds turn to a brownish-orange color, and have a strange vinegar-and-caramelized-apple characteristic. There is often a Sherry-nose aroma, unless this is Sherry; then it’s normal. The cork closure is often the first place to look. Wines opened too long or un-corked will have this problem. Ordering wines by the glass, the wine might have been open too long. I’ve returned over 10% of wine served by the glass because of this.
Solution: Send back the glass or bottle in a restaurant, or return it to winery. If you left it open too long, this one is on you.
2. TCA or cork taint, or corked
And we don’t mean that the cork is still in the bottle or that bits have broken off and sunk into the bottle. Those can be remedied, but not cork taint or TCA, or 2, 4, 6 Trichloroanisole for short.
This contamination is caused by the presence of a fungus reacting to chlorine and phenolic compounds. Since chlorine was commonly used as a cleansing agent in wineries and also used to clean cork material it’s easy to see how this could happen. Knowing this many cork manufacturers seek other ways to clean cork. Mold is also common in cork due in part to its porosity and could harbor that nasty fungus that along with chlorine gives us cork taint.
Typical aromas from cork taint: Musty aromas, wet or moldy newspaper or cardboard, wet dog (no species listed) and moldy basement, assuming you have a basement. Also found in those little shaped carrots bagged after chlorine wash. If a wine drinker cannot detect TCA one possibility is that they’re addicted to those little carrots! However, faint TCA can cause lack of aromas and little taste, which would be a concern for a well-rated wine.
Some tasters pick up TCA in as little as a few parts per trillion. Once a winery is infected with TCA it is very hard to eradicate. Decanting will not help, in fact it will amplify the effect. You might turn a slightly moldy newspaper aroma into full-on wet dog: a big, lumpy, wet dog.
I opened a 2005 Gran Reserva Rioja, a gift from a friend, and discovered what I and my friend Walter Blood thought was a TCA fault. I decanted the wine and tried it again. The TCA was much stronger now and not drinkable. However I had our other guests taste it so they knew how a cork-tainted wine smelled and tasted. One guest said it just didn’t taste good, which is how many wine drinkers would describe it. Thus the reason for this segment!
Solution: Return the bottle if possible. I did this with a bottle in San Martin Island while on holiday. I even had my sommelier badge if anyone tried to contradict me. They were happy to replace it.
Since cork taint is in 2-3% of all wines with natural cork, or nearly one bottle every two cases, this can be a hassle returning them to the winery, particularly if the wine was shipped to you. Returning a local wine is easier and any winery should honor that. Since the Rioja had been purchased years ago and imported, the odds of returning it or getting a refund was nil, so I poured the wine down the drain.
Oh the horror! No wonder I like screw caps, synthetics and glass stoppers! That eliminates 2/3 of wine purchased by cork and gets it down to fewer bottles lost to cork taint.
Don’t forget that some Old World wines exhibit characteristics similar to cork taint, but dissipate after swirling.
3. Sulfur Compounds
Sulfur is a complicated issue in wine. Sulfur is added in small amounts to almost all wine to stabilize it. Another sulfur compound found in wine called dihydrogen sulfide (H2S) is a naturally occurring bi-product when fermentations are stressed.
Sulfur compounds smell smoky like a struck match or cooked cabbage. Most of these smells burn off in about 15–20 minutes after opening a bottle. Thus decanting wine is the solution.
Detecting sulfur unbalances: The most frequent manifestation of a sulfur-related flaw is called mercaptan. If you get aromas like rotten eggs, farts (and don’t ask whose), burnt rubber, cooked garlic, or skunk smells in your wine after decanting, then you probably have a mercaptan problem. Unless there’s a dead skunk around your house.
4. Secondary fermentation
This was the problem Dom Pérignon was trying to solve; the mystery of the exploding wine bottles. Which in the case of Champagne was really not a problem, except for the fragile bottles that generated it. Also some wines are naturally slightly bubbly or frizzante like Vinho Verde. Natural wines with no stabilizing sulfur are more likely to suffer from this.
5. Heat damage (maderized)
This one is all about properly protecting your wine. High temperatures above 80-90 degrees can really cook wine. The idea is to cook with wine, not cook wine. Storing wine in your garage in the summer time is not a good idea, Ditto keeping it in the trunk of your car. Also be very careful when ordering wine online in hotter months. I had to return an entire case of a Rioja Reserva wines because they spent 10 hours in a hot non-air-conditioned UPS truck before they got to my house. The corks were pushed up, which like those pop-up turkey indicators meant, these wines are done!
Solution: There is no solution other than being careful with your wines and choosing reputable shippers.
6. UV Damage
UV damage is caused by exposure to excessive radiation, usually UV. Most commonly from storing wine in the sun or near a window. Lightstrike occurs more commonly in delicate white wines like Champagne, Pinot Grigio, and Sauvignon Blanc. It makes the wine smell like a wet wool sweater!
Solution: Do not store wine out in direct sunlight, sun yourself, not the wine. The colored glass of many wine bottles mitigates this.
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