Although I'm disappointed that the bottle of 2005 Crozes Hermitage that I opened tonight is corked, I am glad that I seem to be getting better at detecting TCA presence in wine. I had always been frustrated by my seeming inability to notice when 2,4.6 trichloroanisole was present; my WSET instructor and other more attuned peers would sniff and proclaim a wine corked and I'd sniff after them and say to myself "Really? Seems OK to me, nice damp forest aromas!".
A couple of months ago at my wine club's "Obscure Varietal" gathering, someone brought a corked bottle from the southwest of France containing 50% Negrette. It was the first time that I ever was like "Oh wow, this wine is corked", noticing immediately the mustiness that obscured everything else that might have been good about the wine. The person who brought the wine was mortified, despite my joy at finally being able to detect and firmly identify the characteristic. For me, that bottle was the best one of the night, because it triggered a sensory memory that will serve me well going forward, as I think it did tonight.
So anyway, bummer on the bad wine tonight...I think it might have been really nice, as I'm getting some good, ripe black fruit and hard to identify secondary and tertiary aromas through the mustiness.
Kyrstyn,
ReplyDeletefinally signed up. Corked wines - many people do not know that there are degrees of TCA, cork taint, varying from badly to only slightly corked. No need to be mortified. It can happen to any bottle. It's estimated that 3-10% of wine is corked. When you get one, just recork the it and return it to where you bought it. Most retailers will give you credit. It more convincing if the bottle is almost full, rather than if it is empty and you have a big smile on your face. Keep Smiling, Leonore
Thanks for the comment, Leonore. I guess this lends itself to a discussion about screw caps...maybe I'll do a blog post on that subject some time. A lot of people still seem averse to them, and it would be interesting to explore how much of that is just psychological, or whether there are actual benefits that cork gives a wine that a screw cap doesn't.
ReplyDeleteWine closures is a very current and active topic. Just last week, Supremecorq in Kent, Washington, synthetic injection-molded wine cork producer announced the suspencion of operations, leaving Nomacorc (co-extruded synthetic corks) as their biggest competition. Some wineries prefer screwtops for freshness on whites.
ReplyDelete