not at all - this helps you tell if the wine is contaminated by a microbe that infests cork trees; this is usually termed "corked"

Randy -

Sort of. "Corked" is TCA (Trichloroanisole, iirc) and can come from many places such as the cellar as well as a contaminated cork. You can have a "corked" wine with a screw-cap or those disgusting rubber stoppers.

Corks are easier to blame than winemaking practices that are not meticulously clean.

true - but way less likely, esp. given the revolution in clean wine-making

I kind of prefer natural yeasting...

I figured you knew, but corks get a bad rap even though they are still the best closure for any wine that has age potential. Sauvignon Blanc and similar work very well with screw caps.

Yes, if you don't know what you are smelling it for, it's like checking the oil on a Carrera with the engine off.

First, you look at the cork and feel it to check condition. A poor condition cork (too much seepage, too dry/brittle) speaks to storage and makes me check for oxidation.

Next, you smell the cork quickly to hopefully smell nothing, maybe a touch of vanilla. If you smell something, then you pay even closer attention to the wine.

Case in point: Last night at my partner's he opened a Saint Joseph. The cork smelled of wet cardboard or old gym socks. Uh oh. All the signs pointed to a corked wine. But on the nose the fruit was down and no tell-tale TCA contamination. Low level of Brett, perfectly appropriate for the bottle.

So there's another lesson - learn wine faults. No reason to drink flawed wine. A good retailer will replace a corked or faulty bottle.

Ruprect, don't take the cork out of the fork.....

I am going to sound like such a snob when I say this...

Terroir. Terroir - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Learn it. Love it.

The more you understand what types grapes are grown where and what exact conditions those certain grapes need it becomes actually fairly easy.

I am partial to Pinot Noir. I know that this grape likes a cool climate, but you also need the warmth in the morning. This grape also needs to have a cool finish. So what I do is look for a vineyard that is on a easterly facing slope so it catches the morning to noon sun and then which is close to a foggy coast so the fog cools down the grapes.

Wine drinking is science.

Tom, they'll forcibly remove you from texas if you keep talking like that...

You better drink a case of Keystone now...

Excuse me. May I go to the bathroom?


:)



Thank-you

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This is a great course...on sale now too for $50

The Everyday Guide to Wine

I recommend most of the "Great Courses"...pretty well done