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+--- Thread: corked wine? (/thread-18355.html)
- elect - 06-30-2005
In the past few weeks I have had 2 bottles that I opened smell like really bad BO. Is this the sent of of a corked bottle?
I did not notice the sent at first, as I had the wines stored in a wine fridge, but when the warmed up to room tempature (only a couple of minutes) the scent was overwhelming. I tried pouring the wine into another glass thinking the glass could be dirty but it didnt matter.
I wasnt sure if it was just bad luck to get 2 bottles in such a short period of time or if something else could be going on.
Thanks
- Thomas - 06-30-2005
A cork-tainted wine smells like wet rag or cardboard, and the wine loses all its fruit--tastes flat.
Your description doesn't sound like that.
Incidentally, refrigeration masks just about all odors in wine (or anything else). Still white wine should be served about ten degrees warmer than refrigeration temperature.
- elect - 06-30-2005
It wasnt my regular fridge but one of those wine fridges that hold ~55 bottles. Any suggestions as to what the order could be?
Both bottles were red. One a cab and the other a malbec.
- wineguruchgo - 06-30-2005
It actually could be a lot of things. Sometimes when they clean the barrels between vintages they don't do a good job getting the cleaning agent off the barrels.
I sell a cabernet from Chile that has a really funky nose, yet the wine tastes fine. It perplexes everyone I show the wine to, including me.
I equate the smell of a corked bottle to Grandma's basement - very musty.
Not really sure what is going on with the bottles. Is the wine fridge in the kitchen by chance? Did it happen to stop working for a period of time and the bottles got really warm?
- elect - 06-30-2005
It is in the kitchen, but i dont think its stopped working. Its less than a year old. We did have our power go out but that was for less than an hour a few weeks ago.
Why would being in the kitchen manner?
- dananne - 06-30-2005
Because the kitchen is frequently the warmest room in a person's house, though I doubt that the bottle was "cooked" in your wine cellar at home in that hour you lacked power. Liquid takes far longer to change temp than air. If the bottle was cooked, IMHO, it's far more likely to have been done at some stage in the bottle's life prior to reaching your home.
- Thomas - 06-30-2005
It's quite difficult for someone online to give you a good sense of what was wrong, if anything was wrong, with the wine, based on an imperfect explanation of the odor.
There are myriad reasons for myriad smells from a bottle of wine--some are good, some are bad, but most are distinct; what you describe "really bad BO" could be the smell of sweat, which in some types of red wine is acceptable, even desirable by some consumers.
Perhaps you simply did not like the smell. What did the wine taste like?
- elect - 06-30-2005
Thanks everyone for your replies.
These are both wines I've had several times before and never noticed this odor in the past. I agree that if it were a new wine to me I would not have been as shocked. The wines tasted like they always do at first sip and then quickly deteriorated.
I apologize that my definition of the odor is not better and I will try to take better notes in the future. That is one thing I am trying to work on is my ability to identify odors and tastes.
- Kcwhippet - 06-30-2005
Of course, it could be something going on with you. Very often, something physiological can cause normally wonderful wines to seem utterly terrible. Something like some particular meds you've taken, hay fever, even something you've just eaten - like a cough drop, salad with a lot of vinegar in the dressing, etc. A lot of different causes of a normally good wine seeming bad. Then again, you may have lucked onto two bad bottles.