Thu August 7th 2008

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Wine Problems and Solutions

Does your wine smell or taste off? How does wine go bad? After all, isn’t wine supposed to get better with age? While the length of time wine sits may be related to wine becoming tainted, it is, in fact, not the main cause. Find out what causes tainted wine, how a cork affects wine quality and much more about tainted wine.

Tainted Wine: A Bitter Taste to the Wine Lover
Wine can taste funky for a number of different reasons. Interestingly, some of the problems are not related to the wine at all. Certain wines can taste off if they’re paired with the wrong foods. For example, strong foods such as anchovies, vinegar, hot peppers and highly salted fish can make almost any wine taste bad.

Similarly, an aged, heavy, cabernet sauvignon might flatten out at a picnic on a bright, sunny day. A light, fruity Chardonnay would pale beside a Crown Roast. Ideally, the right wines paired with a specific meal can blend into a harmony whose sum is greater than any of its parts. 

Corked Wine
By far, cork taint and oxidation are two of the major causes of tainted wine. Because cork is an organic, porous substance made from tree wood, it is susceptible to fungal infection. If the corkwood has been infected with fungus, the resulting cork will quickly taint the wine.

When a cork as outlived its usefulness, its pores will become too open or too constricted. If the cork’s pores are too constricted, the cork shrinks, allowing air to enter the bottle of wine. This causes the wine to oxidize.

Another problem that can arise from the cork results if it breaks while opening the wine. If the cork breaks while still in the bottleneck, you can delicately try to reinsert the corkscrew to try to remove the remainder. However, this can be tricky because the cork can be pushed down into the bottle, splashing into the liquid itself.

Solutions
Cork manufacturers worldwide are researching ways to prevent the cork from tainting wine. To date, they have come up a few solutions and alternatives. One suggestion is to boil the corkwood before corking wine. The boiling water kills any fungus that currently exists in the cork, minimizing the possibility of tainted wine.

Alternatively, some winemakers are using synthetic corks made from plastic. Still others opt for using a screw cap for their wine or housing their wines in boxes, rather than bottles.

Troubleshooting Possible Problems
If you have ever dealt with tainted wine, you have likely wondered what, if anything, you could’ve done to prevent it. Our winemaster has already answered some of your questions. Not only does he have advices about broken corks, but he can also give you tips on how to minimize cork taint.

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