Cork taint in wines remains the off-flavour of the month. Consumer problems with corked wines continue to bedevil wine companies, while cork manufacturers despair over continuing bad press. Meanwhile wine commentators are inundated with media releases proclaiming the pros and cons of natural cork versus plastic/synthetic bottle closures, some writers even accepting PR trips to Portugal courtesy of concerned cork producers. (I wasn't even offered a trip to the local plastics factory!)

What is a corked wine? Typically it is a wine displaying a musty odour reminiscent of wet earth, damp rotting paper or mildewed hessian. This taint will also coarsen and diminish fruit quality in wine rendering it at best unappealing and at worst undrinkable. The main cause of corked wine is a substance known as 2,4,6 trichloroanisole - TCA for short. Ironically, TCA is a product of the chlorine bleaching process used to sanitise cork during manufacture.

Personal experience and anecdotal evidence suggests that cork taint affects around five per cent of bottled wine, that is, one in every 20 bottles. And at this household maybe a bottle of corked wine a week is used to keep the drains clean (admittedly we do open a lot of bottles). I have also encountered frequent occurrences of cork spoilage at wine classes and during wine judging.

Consumers however, will sometimes find a faintly corked wine acceptable without realising that it is defective, merely thinking the wine a little flat or lacking in taste. But they are unlikely to buy another bottle of that label - a disaster for wine producers promoting brand recognition. Despite spoilage problems with the natural product, consumers still prefer cork, apparently rejecting modern alternatives such as Stelvin screw-tops and plastic cork-shaped plugs. And I am certainly not a fan of plastic corks. They are often difficult to extract, their longevity is unproven and I'm not convinced that they are as chemically inert as is claimed. It seems then that the price of tradition is acceptance of occasional imperfection.

"But in the end," I hear you ask, "can't I at least use my corked wine for cooking?" The simple answer is, "If you won't drink it, don't eat it."

© Martin Field