Here's a bizarre story: at our annual end-of-semester Bacchanalia for
our research groups, Jean opened a bottle of the 2000 Rosenblum Rockpile
Road Zinfandel (in a moment of tipsy impetuosity) in our cellar only to
find that it was horribly corked! Every person who smelled the bottle
agreed. Today, 3 days later, I came upon the open bottle sitting in
the cellar and brought it up for disposal. In a spirit of scientific
inquiry, I decided to smell it before getting rid of the nearly full
bottle, and much to my shock I could detect no trace of TCA! What's
more, when I tasted the wine, it tasted perfectly normal with all the
fruit, chocolate and other elements that I would expect to be present
(if a bit more plummy than a 3 year-old Zin should be). Keeping in
mind that I am *very* TCA-sensitive, I can only conclude that the TCA
that was originally present either completely evaporated or oxidized to
some non-odoriferous derivative. Obviously, this "remedy" would hardly
be of benefit to any but the most sturdy of young, red wines but could
possibly be used to rehabilitate a corked wine that was either
irreplacable or of great value. I wonder now how our bottle would have
smelled 24 or 48 hours earlier...

Mark Lipton

On Wed, 17 Dec 2003 04:49:29 GMT, Mark Lipton >
wrote:

>Here's a bizarre story: at our annual end-of-semester Bacchanalia for
>our research groups, Jean opened a bottle of the 2000 Rosenblum Rockpile
>Road Zinfandel (in a moment of tipsy impetuosity) in our cellar only to
>find that it was horribly corked! Every person who smelled the bottle
>agreed. Today, 3 days later, I came upon the open bottle sitting in
>the cellar and brought it up for disposal. In a spirit of scientific
>inquiry, I decided to smell it before getting rid of the nearly full
>bottle, and much to my shock I could detect no trace of TCA! What's
>more, when I tasted the wine, it tasted perfectly normal with all the
>fruit, chocolate and other elements that I would expect to be present
>(if a bit more plummy than a 3 year-old Zin should be). Keeping in
>mind that I am *very* TCA-sensitive, I can only conclude that the TCA
>that was originally present either completely evaporated or oxidized to
>some non-odoriferous derivative. Obviously, this "remedy" would hardly
>be of benefit to any but the most sturdy of young, red wines but could
>possibly be used to rehabilitate a corked wine that was either
>irreplacable or of great value. I wonder now how our bottle would have
>smelled 24 or 48 hours earlier...
>
Very interesting. I can't recall any instance where I have kept an
obviously corked bottle around opened for more than an hour or so.
Depending on the circumstances, I'll either pour it down the drain or
recork it and return it to where I bought it. But based on my own
experiences and those reported by others I've gotten to where I'll
believe just about anything about corked wine. Next time I open a
bottle of corked wine I'll give your "remedy" a try.

Vino

Mark Lipton > wrote in message >...
> Here's a bizarre story: at our annual end-of-semester Bacchanalia for
> our research groups, Jean opened a bottle of the 2000 Rosenblum Rockpile
> Road Zinfandel (in a moment of tipsy impetuosity) in our cellar only to
> find that it was horribly corked! Every person who smelled the bottle
> agreed. Today, 3 days later, I came upon the open bottle sitting in
> the cellar and brought it up for disposal. In a spirit of scientific
> inquiry, I decided to smell it before getting rid of the nearly full
> bottle, and much to my shock I could detect no trace of TCA! What's
> more, when I tasted the wine, it tasted perfectly normal with all the
> fruit, chocolate and other elements that I would expect to be present
> (if a bit more plummy than a 3 year-old Zin should be). Keeping in
> mind that I am *very* TCA-sensitive, I can only conclude that the TCA
> that was originally present either completely evaporated or oxidized to
> some non-odoriferous derivative. Obviously, this "remedy" would hardly
> be of benefit to any but the most sturdy of young, red wines but could
> possibly be used to rehabilitate a corked wine that was either
> irreplacable or of great value. I wonder now how our bottle would have
> smelled 24 or 48 hours earlier...
>
> Mark Lipton

Mark, is this the first time you've kept a corked bottle around for
hours/days? If not, does this match your previous experience. I ask
because my experience is that the longer a corked bottle is open, the
more rank it becomes - examples that are found by only the sensitive
become so obviously corked with air time that nobody can miss it.
This bottle did the opposite of what I've observed.

- Mark W.

Mark Willstatter wrote:

> Mark, is this the first time you've kept a corked bottle around for
> hours/days? If not, does this match your previous experience. I ask
> because my experience is that the longer a corked bottle is open, the
> more rank it becomes - examples that are found by only the sensitive
> become so obviously corked with air time that nobody can miss it.
> This bottle did the opposite of what I've observed.

Spot on, Mark. I was getting too long-winded in my original post, or I would've added
that tidbit. Without question, a corked wine gets "corkier" for at least 3-4 hours after
opening. Many's the time that I've proclaimed a wine corked shortly after opening, only
to be dismissed by other less sensitive types who later must eat their words when the TCA
is apparent from 2' above the rim of the bottle. So, it's possible that some secondary
event leads to the diminution of the TCA after a certain period of time, but it's gotta be
long after the 3-4 hours I've previously tried...

Mark Lipton

"Vino" > wrote in message
...
> On Wed, 17 Dec 2003 04:49:29 GMT, Mark Lipton
>
> wrote:
>
> >Here's a bizarre story: at our annual end-of-semester
Bacchanalia for
> >our research groups, Jean opened a bottle of the 2000
Rosenblum Rockpile
> >Road Zinfandel (in a moment of tipsy impetuosity) in our
cellar only to
> >find that it was horribly corked! Every person who
smelled the bottle
> >agreed. Today, 3 days later, I came upon the open
bottle sitting in
> >the cellar and brought it up for disposal. In a spirit
of scientific
> >inquiry, I decided to smell it before getting rid of the
nearly full
> >bottle, and much to my shock I could detect no trace of
TCA! What's
> >more, when I tasted the wine, it tasted perfectly normal
with all the
> >fruit, chocolate and other elements that I would expect
to be present
> >(if a bit more plummy than a 3 year-old Zin should be).
Keeping in
> >mind that I am *very* TCA-sensitive, I can only conclude
that the TCA
> >that was originally present either completely evaporated
or oxidized to
> >some non-odoriferous derivative. Obviously, this
"remedy" would hardly
> >be of benefit to any but the most sturdy of young, red
wines but could
> >possibly be used to rehabilitate a corked wine that was
either
> >irreplacable or of great value. I wonder now how our
bottle would have
> >smelled 24 or 48 hours earlier...
> >
> Very interesting. I can't recall any instance where I have
kept an
> obviously corked bottle around opened for more than an
hour or so.
> Depending on the circumstances, I'll either pour it down
the drain or
> recork it and return it to where I bought it. But based on
my own
> experiences and those reported by others I've gotten to
where I'll
> believe just about anything about corked wine. Next time I
open a
> bottle of corked wine I'll give your "remedy" a try.
>
> Vino
>
I run introductory wine courses at a restaurant/wine bar -
they keep rejected cork-tainted bottles for me to show
students. We've looked at many corked bottles over the
years, many of them kept for a week or longer. None show
diminished cork taint tho' some also show oxidation after a
while. Corked and oxidised - a nasty combination.
Cheers!
Martin

>Today, 3 days later, I came upon the open bottle sitting in
>the cellar and brought it up for disposal. In a spirit of scientific
>inquiry, I decided to smell it before getting rid of the nearly full
>bottle, and much to my shock I could detect no trace of TCA! What's

I have experienced the same phenomenon and felt that I either jumped to
conclusions upon opening the wine or that the TCA just "blew off". It would be
interesting to know if there is an explanation.
Bi!!

Is it possible that what is confused with taint is just funkyness on flavor
profile?


"RV WRLee" > wrote in message
...
> >Today, 3 days later, I came upon the open bottle sitting in
> >the cellar and brought it up for disposal. In a spirit of scientific
> >inquiry, I decided to smell it before getting rid of the nearly full
> >bottle, and much to my shock I could detect no trace of TCA! What's
>
> I have experienced the same phenomenon and felt that I either jumped to
> conclusions upon opening the wine or that the TCA just "blew off". It
would be
> interesting to know if there is an explanation.
> Bi!!

dick wrote:

> Is it possible that what is confused with taint is just funkyness on flavor
> profile?
>

Dunno about others, Dick, but personally I find the smell of cork taint
rather unmistakable. When a wine's very lightly corked I often question
whether or not what I'm smelling is cork taint, but any truly corked wine is
instantly recognizable as such to me.

Mark Lipton

Mark Lipton > wrote in message >...
> Mark Willstatter wrote:
>
> > Mark, is this the first time you've kept a corked bottle around for
> > hours/days? If not, does this match your previous experience. I ask
> > because my experience is that the longer a corked bottle is open, the
> > more rank it becomes - examples that are found by only the sensitive
> > become so obviously corked with air time that nobody can miss it.
> > This bottle did the opposite of what I've observed.
>
> Spot on, Mark. I was getting too long-winded in my original post, or I would've added
> that tidbit. Without question, a corked wine gets "corkier" for at least 3-4 hours after
> opening. Many's the time that I've proclaimed a wine corked shortly after opening, only
> to be dismissed by other less sensitive types who later must eat their words when the TCA
> is apparent from 2' above the rim of the bottle. So, it's possible that some secondary
> event leads to the diminution of the TCA after a certain period of time, but it's gotta be
> long after the 3-4 hours I've previously tried...
>
> Mark Lipton

Katie's kept corked bottles around for my educational purposes for
days and I've never seen one get better - there must have been
something special about your bottle.

- Mark W.

Mark Lipton > wrote in message >...
>
> Dunno about others, Dick, but personally I find the smell of cork taint
> rather unmistakable. When a wine's very lightly corked I often question
> whether or not what I'm smelling is cork taint, but any truly corked wine is
> instantly recognizable as such to me.
>
> Mark Lipton

One more data point. I ran into this on New Year's Eve. A bottle of
'96 Allegrini Amarone that was mildly corked.

Shortly after opening, the taint showed up on the front end. It really
wasn't apparent on the nose and the wine exploded in your mouth and
covered the taint, so it didn't completely ruin the wine like it does
with a bottle that is severly tainted. Usually I find TCA tainted wine
completely undrinkable and can even ruin wines for the rest of the
night. Kind of like a ghost of the bad bottle that haunts me for the
evening. The taint did increase slightly over the next couple of
hours.

The next day ( about 17 hours since opening the bottle) I poured a
glass of the remaining wine that sat on the counter over night and the
taint was completely gone. No signs of oxidation and it was very
tasty.

Andy