The Flaw 5 Percent of All Wine Bottles Suffer From
Wine has been a part of civilization for thousands of years. This would seem to suggest that it is a rather hardy liquid. Nothing could be further from the truth. Entire regions have nearly been lost from viral infections, but in this article we take a closer look at the problem 5 percent of all wine bottles have.
You've become a rather serious wine collector. You remember that first quality bottle you purchased and have had in your storage for years. It's your 25th anniversary, a special occasion if ever there was one. You pop the cork and a rank smell immediately becomes apparent. Is the wine bad? Not in the manner you might think. No, the problem is you have a corked wine.
What is a corked wine? It is perhaps the most aggravating thing a wine collector can experience. The phrase refers to a wine that has a unique problem. Prior to bottling, the cork was cleaned with a solution that contained chlorine. Once bottled, the chlorine reacts phenol that occurs naturally in the cork material. This leads to a mold explosion that results in a substance known as TCA. TCA gives off the smell you experience with a corked wine and more or less ruins the bottle.
A corked wine is not uncommon. You can find them in shops and restaurants. It is estimated that roughly 5 percent of all wine bottles suffer from the corked problem. Many of these bottles go unnoticed because the smell can blend with other wine aromas. Airing out the wine will also lead to the reduction of the smell. Is there any way to save a corked wine? Unfortunately, there really is not. The best that can be done is to try to decant the wine. The TCA [trichlorasine] effect is hard to overcome.
There is good news on this front, however. The corked problem is occurring at the same time corking is also becoming more expensive. This is leading to a movement to switch away from cork caps towards screw on caps. This would resolve the corked problem, but the movement is slowed by the traditional views of wine drinkers. Most wine drinkers associate a screw on cap with a drop in quality. As a result, many wineries are hesitant to make the switch and risk the wrath of unhappy customers.
A corked wine is definitely not a good thing. Odds are you will experience one sooner or later. Such is life!
