Over the holidays
I was out at a very nice restaurant in our town. My friend ordered
a glass of wine, swirled it, took a little sniff…and then
made a very funny scrunched up face. Her wine was flawed. She could
tell immediately. This started a chain reaction within our crew.
About three other friends smelled theirs and started passing the
glasses around saying, “Is this flawed? I think mine is flawed?”
I took a whiff of each of them and the only one that seemed truly
flawed to me was the first one. It made me start thinking that we
all need a good lesson on what the signs of flawed wine are.
How often a
wine is flawed turns out to be a controversial questions. Some people
feel that 1 out of every 12 wines they consume is flawed. Personally,
I don't find anywhere near that many wines to be a problem, but
I tend to drink a lot of younger wine. Wine flaws are usually due
to improper production, handling or storage, there are a fair amount
of things that can go wrong with wine--most of which should be cause
to return a wine if ordering in a restaurant. Some restaurants that
are less educated in proper wine service may argue with you about
returning the wine, but if you feel there is a problem. Stick to
your guns. Wine merchants will also take back a flawed wine. So
if you come upon a bottle that is flawed save it and take it back.
Don’t pour it down the drain. Any respectable wine store will
exchange the bottle for you.
The most common
word you will hear out of someone’s mouth when they taste
or smell wine that seems “bad” is that the wine is corked.
Corked wine has the flavor of wet, musty cardboard. Once you have
really tasted a corked wine, you'll know what it is--it is not subtle.
It is caused by trichloranisol 2, 4, 6 (TCA), a compound released
by molds that can infest the bark from which corks are made. One
theory: you can't get TCA without chlorine, which is used to bleach
corks (for aesthetic reasons). If corks aren't properly rinsed and
dried this problem can occur.
While some people
attribute all flawed bottles to being corked, there are a number
of other things that can go wrong. A non-exhaustive list follows.
Brettanomeyces(Brett).
Earthy and/or manure type smells caused by the Brettanomeyces
strain of yeast. Liked by some (for example particular French
and Italian wines), disliked by many California vintners. In small
amounts, can add "character" to a wine. Too much, and
forget it.
Dekkera.
Another wild-yeast caused flavor of fresh dirt or cement. Liked
by some (for example in some Bordeaux, Burgundy, Rhone and Italian
red wines), disliked by many California vintners. Dekkera can
also come from contaminated equipment and barrels.
Madeirized.
Wine subjected to oxygen or heat through poor storage
which ends up tasting like Madeira or Sherry. No fruit flavor
left. Off-color.
Mercaptan.
Smells of garlic or onion or even of skunk. I'm told that this
is much of the cause of the "foxy" flavor produced by
grapes native to North America. It is said that the term "foxy"
came about because their wines were often made from the Fox grape,
where the flavor was first seen.
Sulfur.
Burnt match smell caused by too much sulfur dioxide (used in the
winemaking process) and rotten egg smells caused by hydrogen sulfide
from bacterial contamination. Depending on what it is, it might
go away if you air the wine for a while.
Volatile
Acidity. Smells of vinegar. May go away if you air the
wine for a while.
Acetaldehyde.
If you've had sherry, you're very familiar with this
character. In red or white wines, an acetaldehyde character is
generally considered undesirable. This character can be nutty,
musty, or swampy. Some people may claim that the wine is simply
"oxidized". This last characterization gives us a clue
about the aldehydic perception, as wines with this flaw have often
been exposed to too much oxygen (or air). Again, this character
might be desirable if in small amounts, but can be overbearing
if excessive. Sometimes such wines can be flabby, dull and just
plain oxidized.
Cooked.
“Cooked” or heat-damaged wines have been improperly
stored or transported. Wines stored above 55 degrees Fahrenheit
will experience accelerated aging. If the temperature gets really
high, the wine can expand and push the cork partially out of the
bottle. You can sometimes recognize cooked wines by a streak of
wine color up the length of the cork, a partially protruding cork,
or leakage. Red wines may turn brown.
A few things
that aren’t flaws are tiny glass like crystals on the bottom
of the cork (or sometimes in the wine). Assuming they really aren't
glass from the winery, they probably the result of tartaric acid
in the form of potassium bitartrate (cream of tartar). This is tasteless
and harmless. I've seen them many times and they are harmless. Some
times you will see sediment in the bottom of your glass or bottle.
Sediment occurs as tannins combine with flavor compounds in the
wine and fall to the bottom of the bottle. This just means that
your wine has not been filtered. As long as it is not excessive,
this is not a flaw.
So, what have
we learned…. Be sure to smell your wine. Some of these “flaws”
are acceptable in certain amounts. Especially when dealing with
Old World wines. If you think your wine is flawed, ask your wine
steward. He/she should be well trained in recognizing these problems
and will take your glass or bottle back without a problem. If not,
think about frequenting a different restaurant and let the manager
know why. CHEERS!
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