corked wines

[tomstevenson]

There's nothing wrong with Jerry's nose, wood is a very common source of TCA and not just oak. At the 1998 London Wine Trade Fair the smell of TCA around the Amorim cork stand was so intense that visitors could smell it as they climbed the stairs. However, there was not a corked cork to be found. It was the wood in the stairs that was found to be contaminated with TCA! Unprecedented high temperatures exacerbated the problem. Although cooperage is a prime source of TCA, there are many other potential wooden sources in a winery and TCA is highly volatile when subjected to high temperature. Bottled water has even been found to contain TCA, so a corky smell not only does not have to come from a cork, it need not even come from a barrel (although the probability is that did), so I hope that Jerry's fellow judges are suitably contrite!