Comments on: Little ditty, ’bout moldy corks

By: Jaxwino

Jaxwino — Fri, 16 Apr 2010 14:44:58 +0000

I opened a 2008 Sonoma Chard; there was a slight bit of mold on the bottom of the cork…black streaks to be precise.

It did not exhibit the normal cork taint characteristics, and in fact the fruit was full–contrary to most TCA wines.
However, it did exhibit some off notes, including traces of muskiness & wet wood. Since it was an oaky chard to begin with, there was some discussion in the crowd…..

By: Thomas Pellechia

Thomas Pellechia — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 20:53:28 +0000

In my, er, decades of wine drinking, I remember meeting up with many wines with moldy corks but cannot remember meeting up with one TCA wine that came with a moldy cork.

By: WineLush

WineLush — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 17:28:59 +0000

TCA doesn’t come from moldy corks. Period.

By: german wine guy

german wine guy — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 16:24:15 +0000

I have often in my 20 years of restaurant experience encountered corks with varying degrees of mold on the top prior to opening. I have noticed this mostly among German and French wines. I have never actually had a direct correlation between moldy on the outside and TCA on the inside.
I would assume that the bottle(s) you tested were all among the same lot and that it was an isolated incident. I will say that from my experience now that I am in the business of selling wine, for some reason I have noticed more and more TCA, from every corner of the wine producing world. Perhaps it’s that I open a large amount of wine proportionate to most people…or that the state of quality in both cork production and cleanliness of wineries has fallen to unacceptable conditions.
no matter which way you open it, it makes for a stinky situation!

By: Rebecca

Rebecca — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 20:18:16 +0000

I’ve recently had a 1988 St Emilion that had a very molded cork. The whole top of the cork was green and crumbly and the cork itself was impressed below the lip of the bottle. The wine however, was perfect.