06/22/05 Corked wine

Welcome to Vine to Wine, this is your host Linda Moran and recently I took a bottle of wine to a party and to my embarrassment it was "corked". Which brought up the inevitable conversation about "corked" wine; what it is and how you know when a wine is "corked". I think it is time for us to revisit the topic so that you will recognize it for yourself. BREAK The term "corked" or "corky" is used to describe a wine that has gone bad due to a faulty cork used to close the wine. You will recognize this without even having to take a sip. The tell tale sign is that the wine smells bad. Yes, the smell is where you find it first. There will be a very nasty smell of mouldy basement or wet mouldy cardboard or newspaper. The kind of newspaper or cardboard that has been left in the basement too long. The wine will taste very bad with little to no fruit character at. But if you have the receipt from buying the wine or a good relationship with your wine merchant take the bottle back and get a replacement. Most reputable wineries and distributors will gladly take it back. I think that many consumers are becoming knowledgeable about wine and are able to identify this flaw more readily. I find that I run across a corked bottle about once in every 12 or 15 bottles. This is another good reason to smell your wine before you taste it and definitely before you serve it. 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.