Community Tasting Note

• Poussin wrote: flawed

  September 14, 2014 - An oxidised bottle - smelled and tasted like an amontillado sherry, albeit quite a good one. We finished it with no ill effects. A disappointing experience, but these things happen!

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5 Comments

• Greg Munyard commented:

  10/7/15, 5:58 AM - Poor you, Poussin, especially as you love Yquem - who doesn't?! - and you know how great they can be. I had a bad '96 too - a half bottle in 2010. Fortunately the shop replaced it (with another vintage) without hesitation. I

• Poussin commented:

  10/8/15, 7:14 AM - Thanks for the comment Greg. i actually wasn't too upset about this because we still got a lot of pleasure out of it and I have otherwise been very lucky with my purchases of cellared wines (no badly corked bottles yet - touch wood).

• Greg Munyard commented:

  10/8/15, 9:35 AM - Nice attitude, Poussin; you'd be a great drinking companion! I notice you said oxidised, without pointing the finger at the cork; well done. Broadening the oxidation point a bit, so many people incorrectly attribute all kinds of problems to corks because they don't know better. I reckon it's because we naturally expect our bottles to be good, and when they're not I suppose the cork is the obvious thing to blame. However my experience is that the cork is rarely the problem for contamination although it does happen; perhaps 1 or 2 or 3 bottles in 100 from a quality producer. I've luckily drunk many dozens of Yquem and I think I've only had one bottle - also a 1996 - that had a likely cork problem.
  
  For what it's worth, my experience is that spoiled wine is much more likely to be caused by either poor storage or winemaking issues like random oxidation in white burgundies - eg. perhaps through insufficient SO2 - or perhaps because of brett. contamination or some other spoilage associated with the vintage. Oak resins could also be an issue, too, eg. if a barrel is a bit "green".
  
  It can be perplexing when some bottles just present as dumb, and no amount of breathing enlivens them, yet the corks appear and smell perfectly OK (without lab. testing), so I don't rush to criticise the cork in the absence of sufficient evidence. I had this problem with a 2005 Domaine Leflaive Chevalier Montrachet - groan. That bottle had a hint of premature oxidisation but I don't think the cork was the reason. I'm also realistic enough to know that screw-caps, which have some more-than-fanatical advocates here in Australia, have problems of their own and I personally avoid this closure.
  
  I also find it interesting that, even though it's not that unusual to have corks disintegrate on removal, especially for old wines, its very rare that a disintegrated cork is associated with contamination of the wine.

• Poussin commented:

  10/22/15, 1:34 PM - Greg, many thanks for these thoughts. Although I had read up on the difference between oxidation and cork taint, I must admit that I initially blamed the cork for this particular faulty bottle. I'm now sure it was a storage issue. I have to say my research was pretty poor - I now know that the '96 should not be as dark as this bottle was (I suppose this is why Sauternes comes in clear glass - so you can judge by the colour). I'd like to learn more about the issue of 'premoxing' in white wines. I've read that this can happen when the bottle is filled too full.

• Greg Munyard commented:

  11/9/15, 4:00 AM - Hi Poussin
  Here's my two bob's worth: cork taint is caused by contamination of the cork and thus the wine (through contact) by a chemical, whereas oxidation is caused by oxygen contacting the wine. A tainted cork won't cause oxidation, of itself, as cork-caused oxidation occurs if the cork lacks seal integrity (eg. is too porous or has an irregular surface with the bottle neck).
  
  Oxidation can be caused by many things, of which the cork is only one. I am convinced that cork-caused oxidation is not the main reason why wines oxidise. Corks are much more reliable than you think, especially in recent years, when cork manufacturers have paid even greater attention to quality, in the face of opposition from other closures. Fortunately, I drink good wine, and I reckon cork problems are about 1 in 50 or less. They certainly are rare in my experience, and I have a cork collection of many thousands, as I've kept almost every cork from every bottle of wine I've drunk over the last 35 years.
  
  Frankly, I believe that corks are often incorrectly blamed for winemaking faults (or unknown reasons) that cause oxidation, as it's an easy bandwagon to jump on. I've heard about winemakers who said cork was the problem when it almost certainly was something else. Cork is an easy target, especially in Australia, where some cork critics are vitriolic in their criticisms and sometimes don't bother to check facts or send corks for testing. You tend not to discuss the topic in Australia because of the anti-cork sentiment of some noisy people. Then again, Australia is a large bauxite exporter ...
  
  Possible causes of oxidation are many. My understanding is that the main cause is a lack of sulphur dioxide (SO2) added in vinification. This is a contentious topic, as some young winemakers include too little SO2, as part of an understandable drive to add as little as necessary to wines during vinification. Nice objective but if you want to store the wine for a few years then good luck, as SO2 (a preservative) diminishes with time.
  
  Other causes include oxygen inadvertently added during bottling - different bottling practices can have different outcomes. Oxidation also can result from small batches of wine made in large tanks. This could be the problem with some rare white burgundies eg. Montrachets, inevitably made in small batches. I had a young oxidised Montrachet once; the cork however seemed perfect. I've also had many Corton Charlemagnes from Bonneau du Martray that were prematurely oxidised through no fault of any of the corks but this is not made in small batches. None of the corks was at fault, however.
  
  I've heard talk that plunging may be a contributor, too, but a wine-maker I've discussed this with has his doubts. Anectodally, plunging doesn't seem to cause a problem in pinot noir that receives a lot of this treatment, so he has a point there.
  
  Coincidentally, I've created my own small (private) data base on cork condition -v- wine condition. I've retrieved corks in bits, or very soft corks that would have dropped into the bottle had I not been careful. However the wines were superb, even though they were in some cases more than 30 years old. Corks have earned a great deal of respect from me.
  
  Re your point about over-full bottles: I think it is possible - if the wine is somehow dispacing the small amount of silicone coating on the cork, in the neck of the bottle - but I feel this is an unlikely cause. However I am not an expert on this complex topic on which the industry is still developing its views.

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