May 1, 2012 – Wine: OMG! It’s corked!

Well, for the second time in the last five years, I have encountered a bottle that was truly corked (and not simply an off bottle).  After having opened and served my first corked bottle, which had an unusual flavor profile that was nearly fascinating, I learned the key attribute of a corked wine.  Sure the flavor profile may be unexpected, and the finish may have intolerable acids or bitterness, but the true sign of cork taint (TCA) is the smell of wet newsprint.  I remembered smelling it then and I smelled it again tonight.  Naturally, as this was the last half-bottle of a truly magnificent 2002 Napa Valley Meritage red, I was hopeful that the off smell would breathe away in 90 minutes, but it persisted (and I cried a little).  The flavor was off and it finished utterly bitter.  This was really disappointing because I could also sense a bit of richness peeking through.  As it was getting late and my palette was already thirsting for a nice red wine, I rushed to open a 2009 Dashe Zinfandel and gave it a good aerating (shake-shake-shake) in the decanter.  This wine turned out to be quite nice after just 20 minutes of breathing.

Now for some math…  Over the past five years, I have opened nearly 500 different wines, many of those multiple times.  So, let’s say 600 bottles or so.  During that time, I have encountered two bottles that were corked – one full bottle and one half bottle.  The two corked wines were both red wine blends, but the similarity ends there.  One cost about $8 a bottle (on sale by the case) from the Santa Cruz mountains and the other cost $23 a half-bottle (on sale by the case) from Napa Valley, or nearly three times the price.  But the real surprise is that the cork-taint rate for my cellar over the past five years is a mere 0.33%.  Most studies suggest a cork-taint rate of 0.7% to 1.2%, so I guess I have been exceptionally lucky in this regard.  But my point here is that cork-taint seldom happens.  A more likely failure is a failure of the cork to maintain the seal on the bottle.  Storing the bottles horizontally (rather than vertically) may help this by keeping the cork wet while reducing the direct force of the liquid on the cork.