What Does It Mean When A Wine Is Corked?

Whether you're cracking open a cheap wine with high alcohol content or dipping into one of your reserve label wine bottles, you want your boozy fermented grape juice to taste exactly as it's been advertised. The flowery language on a label or sommelier-spoken poetry will lose all meaning if what's inside has been jeopardized. And one common threat to any varietal, from Burgundy and Barolo to sauvignon blanc and chardonnay, is a chemically compromised cork.

A wine is "corked" when its stopper, typically made from the bark of a cork oak tree, has transferred the compound 2,4,6-trichloroanisole, aka TCA, to your vino. TCA can occur when just the right type of fungus meets a certain kind of chlorophenol, the likes of which are used in agriculture. The resulting TCA journey to your wine is likely airborne, so it can also be found in screw-top bottles.

Once you've been exposed to a corked wine, you'll never forget its chief characteristic: an off-putting aroma more like a damp, unfinished basement than the beautiful bouquet you'd expect. In spite of its alarming odor, corked wine has not been found to be dangerous. It can happen to any wine, at any price point. TCA can also pop up in many other foods and drinks to similarly ruinous effect.

You cannot tell if a wine is corked simply by looking at it. Because that putrid signature scent is the result of TCA infiltration — not simply the product of a cracked or crumbling cork — you'll smell it before you see it. Otherwise, restaurants and retailers wouldn't push the defective product to begin with. That slightly goofy image of a besuited server presenting a cork to a snooty restaurant guest? The patron might just be sniffing for evidence of TCA, trying to detect if the wine is corked prior to tasting.

There really isn't anything to be done when a wine is corked. If TCA is present, the customer's only recourse is to simply send the bottle back. While in other instances a pinch of salt can improve red wine's flavor, corked wine is irreparably contaminated. In the case of store-bought wine, most reputable shops will accept corked wine returns, provided you haven't powered through and finished the rancid brew.