Cork Taint

One of the most common wine defects today is “Cork Taint”, technically known as “TCA” or trichloroanisole. A wine that is “corky” from an infected cork smells musty like a damp, dank basement and is the main reason many producers have gone to polymer versions and screw caps. Although cork producers have invested millions of dollars to clean up the cork-producing process with great results, corks, because they are porous, are still prone to absorbing smells and bacteria from extraneous sources long after their production. Storage facilities and shipping containers can easily impart strange aromatics to otherwise healthy corks. Even open bags of unused corks sitting at a winery can pick up “off” smells from its surroundings.