>More recently, I happened to sniff the cork that I had just withdrawn from
a>bottle of my _own_ wine (IOW, not store bought; a bottle of Pinot Noir
I'd>made and bottled myself). The cork had a distinctly funky smell -
not>vinous. Tasting the wine confirmed my suspicion. The wine was corked.
It>both tasted and smelled "off".
>
>Bottom line: There seems to be some usefulness to sniffing the cork, but>you
need to know what you're looking for.

That conclusion does not follow from the information you provided.

I would conclude that there is NO utility in sniffing the cork, as it affords
zero additional information to what you would determine by tasting the wine.

Other than checking to see if the brand on the cork is correct, there is no
point wasting time sniffing, squeezing, or otherwise playing with a cork
(unless perhaps you get off on that sort of thing).

If the wine smells and tastes fine, who cares what the cork might indicate?

If the wine is 'off', again, who cares whether or not the cork indicated this -
it might or might not, but in either case, the ONLY important information - is
the wine off or not - is determined by examination of the wine itself.

Arcane rituals with corks may be amusing, but they have no role deciding if a
wine is corked or not. If you can't tell by trying the wine, who cares what the
cork may indicate.

Might as well read the entrails of a sheep, although the cost of sheep and the
expense of having a sheep pen and readily available sharp implements has
drastically reduced the number of restaurants offering this service. The best
you will likely see is the odd chicken entrail reading service, and this is
usually restricted to use with first growths, otherwise they just give you the
cork to play with, though this does seem to placate many people.