corked???

[njjchiro]

Opened a bottle of "01" Stags Leap chard last night. Nancy and I have had this wine befor and enjoyed it very much, but this bottle had a much different taste. While there was good fruit at the beginning a very distictive metalic, chalky taste quickly overtook the wine. My notes on the first bottle never mentioned this and I was wondering if a "corked" wine could be any style , ie: Chab, Zin, Chard? Also could someone can give me an idea of what a corked bottle will taste like?

[Drew]

TCA, (2,4,6 trichloroanisole), can effect any wine and the most described affect of TCA is the wet basement/wet cardboard/musty nose with much absence of fruit. TCA concentration can be minimal to overwhelming as well as the response to it. Some people are very sensitive to minimal cork taint while others tolerate it without an adverse drinking experience.

http://waterhouse.ucdavis.edu/ven219/cork_taint__tca_and_related_compounds.htm

Drew

[Thomas]

njjchiro, as Drew's post indicates, metallic and chalky are not problems connected to a "corked" wine.

Were you eating anything with the Chardonnay?



[This message has been edited by foodie (edited 02-14-2004).]

[njjchiro]

Yes Foodie, we had a pan seared veal chop with shitaki (sp?) musrooms finished with a white wine and veal stock reduction. the food was great! But not so the wine.

Nick

[winoweenie]

Good-Gracioso there N-Babe where the devil was a nice Pinot or Cab? That recipe screams for a nice RED, not one of dem' SWs'. WW [img]http://wines.com/ubb2/wink.gif[/img] A Stags Leap Napa Cab would have hit C above high C.

[This message has been edited by winoweenie (edited 02-14-2004).]

[Tastevin]

Hello Njj.
Don't know about the chalkiness, but a metallic taste is usually due to some metallic contamination during wine making, bottling, storage in cask. If your bottle tasted distinctly unpleasant, had a deeper colour than usual, then that could indicate copper contamination.
T

[Thomas]

Tastvin, any American winery in this day and age that allows copper near the wine would be far behind technology-unless they are cheating to get H2s out, which the government frowns upon.

I agree, the food with the wine doesn't seem to be the cause of a metallic taste, but your palate could have been off (as in a head cold). Chalkiness could indicate high Ph and low acidity--but even that usually comes off a little differently, more like soapy.

We'll never know, I suppose, what this is about.

[This message has been edited by foodie (edited 02-15-2004).]

[Tastevin]

Foodie, so nice to have such scrupulous winemakers. Gosh, so many people not doing anything their government frowns upon!

High Ph and low acidity - soapy? Well, ok. Chalky? Never.

Njj, hope yours and Nancy's colds have gone.
T.

[Thomas]

Tastevin,

Oddly, the government is smart on this one--aside from the potential medical problems copper can cause, it (as copper sulfate) can create a terrible blue haze going right down the center of the wine.

That, for a winemaker, should be enough motivation to stay clear...

But, and a big but, if you have a 1,000 gallon lot of Gewurztraminer that started with poor nutrition for yeast to eat, and ended smelling like a vat of rotting onions, copper sulfate is your only alternative! 'tis a tricky maneuver.

[Tastevin]

Yes Foodie, I am aware of all that.
Are you saying that copper precipitation is never, and can ever be, found in a bottle of American wine?
What is used to combat oidium in the States?
T

[Thomas]

I don't think the government frowns on copper use in the vineyard, so long as it is sprayed well before harvest, whatever time schedule that is.

It's in the winery where copper is a general no-no.

[This message has been edited by foodie (edited 02-16-2004).]