Tasting mistakes

[Randy Caparoso]

The vast majority of people -- including an amazing number of experienced and even "expert" tasters -- can't seem to recognize a corked wine when it hits them upside the palate. Wines affected by tainted corks basically lose their freshness -- like their core of fruit is ripped right out of the center -- and, of course, begin to smell (and taste) like wet cardboard or dirty sox.

Most people, when they taste this, simply think that the wine is weak. Psychologically, if the wine should happen to be pricey or very reputable, there is a tendency to think that something is wrong with one's own palate (you start to think, "Am I missing something?"). Other times, people just start to describe fruit-deprived, cardboardy wines as simply "earthy" -- justifying this as just part of the way the wine is or how the winemaker intended it to be... when in truth, it's the last thing anybody really wanted. It's almost unbelievable how far people will go to convince themselves how an awfully corked wine is "just okay" or even good!

If this has happened to you, you are definitely not alone.

How does one inure one's self from this? Over the years (25+) I've developed these observations:

1. The most decisive way to train yourself to recognize a corked wine is to immediately open another bottle of the same if a wine is not tasting nearly as good as you would expect. Unless, of course, the second bottle is also corked (definitely not an impossibility!), you will quickly learn to recognize how fresh and fruity an uncorked wine really should taste. You go back to the original suspect bottle, and you see just what's missing and what's taken its place (cardboardiness as opposed to fruitiness).

2. You have to learn to trust your instincts. You KNOW what a good wine tastes like, and if a wine is not tasting all that great it's for one of two things -- it's a lousy wine, or there's a serious flaw (corkiness being one of the most commmon) peculiar to specifically that bottle. Sometimes it's hard to be brutally honest with yourself. In tasting groups, at dinner parties, and even one-on-one tastings with the winemakers (I continue to find innumerable corked wines in all these situations) -- there is often tremendous pressure to take something for what it is not. But you have to be strong and just say, "Hey, this is not right!"

3. Try to remember that corkiness manifests itself predominantly in the aroma and its related sensation, flavor on the palate. So the balance of actual palate sensations -- sugar, acid, alcohol, tannin, glycerol, etc. -- can remain relatively unaffected by this flaw. A wine can actually perform quite well from the palate aspect and still be extremely corked. Of course, perfectly fresh wines are often lousy on the palate. The thing to remember that it works both ways and many other ways in between.

Like I said, it is extremely common to find yourself tasting wine in the company of self-professed experts who can't recognized corked wines. I'm convinced that they've just grown accustomed to lousy wine, poor slobs. But when you're tasting with a winemaker, they almost always agree if you should inform him or her that you believe that a wine may be corked; and they always appreciate your pointing this out.

Once, however, I happened to be tasting wine in a big ballroom when I tasted an awfully corked Sauvignon Blanc, and then asked the fellow pouring it if I could try a second bottle. Unfortunately, that one also turned out to be badly tainted. So I simply said that there is some serious problem, and the fellow said: "Listen, I happen to be the winemaker (which I didn't know!) and I know that these wines are not corked since we're using these new, reconstructed corks (from natural cork fragments) which are 100% guaranteed never to be corked... and so I'm sorry that you just don't like our wine." Of course, I felt quite embarassed about the whole thing, and really started to question my own ability. However, since then I've talked a number of other winemakers who have all said that they've actually had some problems with corked wines enclosed with the exact same "guaranteed" reconstructed corks. In fact, I've found a couple more of the same since!

What really upsets me now is what pinheads some winemakers really are (and this one was from a fairly prestigious Napa Valley winery)... especially ones who are quick to dismiss people (he probably had no idea who I was either) who are simply trying to help, without taking a few seconds to taste their own wine and finding out the problem for themselves!


[This message has been edited by Randy Caparoso (edited 05-23-99).]

[This message has been edited by Randy Caparoso (edited 05-23-99).]