Wine Gone Bad

Welcome to Vine to Wine this is your host Linda Moran. On today’s program we examine some of the indications that tell you your wine may have gone bad.

Yes - it is a fact - wine is food. As in the case of food, sometimes stuff happens and the wine goes bad. There are some clues – beyond you just don’t like the wine that help you  recognize and  identify wine gone bad. A common one is a bottle of wine that smells like old wet cardboard. Yes, the nasty kind of paper, that has been sitting in a basement. This smell is not earthy - This smell comes from a cork that has gone bad. Even the most expensive wines can have this issue. Next - if your wine smells flat and a bit like sherry it has somehow become oxidized. Air got in and destroyed what might once have been a good wine.  Now if there are any chemical smells most common of which are sulfur or rotten eggs, burn rubber or bad garlic or acetone which smells like nail polish remover you have trouble. Any of those smells and your wine went bad. One of the reasons we store and ship wine in a cool place is because we don’t want it to cook. Literally, the wine will take on a baked or cooked quality and actually taste that way. Whether it be these, or any other flaws, above all give the wine another chance. Return the bad bottle to where you bought it and I bet they will gladly exchange it for you. Remember to send your wine questions to Linda at vine to wine dot net and thank you for joining me on today’s Vine to Wine.