Trying futilely to catch up on some topics on this newsgroup I found people disputing Michael Pronay in his entirely reasonable mentions of well-known percentages of TCA-defective wines. What is going on here? Having missed out on the wine newsgroup for a while I had no idea that this was controversial. My regular tasting groups try new releases from several countries and routinely find 5-10% TCA-defective bottles. Sometimes you see runs of them from one producer or batch. This is corroborated by every experienced fine-wine enthusiast or professional I talk to. (It is also outrageous.) There is the separate issue that some inexperienced tasters don't spot TCA (I've seen people hold forth like authorities on wine, while not noticing badly corked bottles) and some wine stewards DO spot it and keep quiet until the customer complains (many don't) whereupon the steward expresses, like a diplomat, suitably grave concern. (That's the human side of TCA, not the technical side.)
The problem can hit any producer. A year or two ago I was with some hobbyists bringing our revered cellar bottles to a restaurant dinner and one bottle (10% of 10!) was obviously corked and it was a serious Burgundy -- DRC's R-S-V 1976? but I would have to check. This was a valuable bottle today in money terms, over $1000 US I think (another earlier posted question) and God knows if it was even replaceable. (_Mirabile Dictu,_ its owner had brought a back-up!) Also these are not nouveaux-riches I'm talking about, they are passionate enthusiasts who've cherished and aged these wines carefully and who feel the tragedy of such a wine ruined.