We just returned from Europe. Whenever the server opened the bottle of wine, he/she sniffed the cork as soon as it was pulled out.
Last night at a restaurant in Baltimore we got discussing this. The waiter did not sniff the cork but just laid it on the table. The discussion led to the waiter and others at my table saying that it was up to the customer to sniff the cork.
I'm curious as to whether the "custom" is different in the USA than in Europe. Or was our waiter last night just misinformed. To me it makes sense that the server would sniff the cork to be sure that he doesn't even pour a wine for tasting that has gone bad.
Admittedly, it's probably not important since the chance of me getting a bad bottle of the sort of wine I generally drink is almost zero. Still, I'm questioning which "custom" is right.
Many years ago, I friend of mine and I had gone to a major Steak House. I ordered a wine and the sommelier opened the bottle and laid the cork for me to sniff and then proceeded to pour a small amount into the glass to taste.
I smelled the cork and it only showed a slightly off smell that only hinted at the vinegar inside. When I tasted it I instantly apologized to the expert and said the wine had gone bad. He looked at me funny then tasted it himself, we were only about 20 at that time and for a couple of kids to spot a bad wine in a major restaurant was pretty cool. He instantly apologized to me (us) and brought us a notable much better wine and said he was only charging us the price of the wine we had originally ordered. Classy place, done with a high amount of class on our part and was rewarded big time.
Cork taint runs at around 5%, so unless you only drink from screwtops or plastic-corked bottles, chances are you have had quite a few faulty bottles that you have not realised.
Siffing the cork does not tell you a lot about how good the wine is. It can give a hint, but sniffing and tasting the wine is much more reliable.
I could not really comment on correctness of custom, but I have seen waiters sniff corks in Europe on rare occasions. And on one of the ocassions the waitress poured the wine after sniffing, and it proved to be horribly corked. She later admitted she had no idea what a corked wine smellt like, so in that case it was a totally meaningless ritual.
At the best resataurant I have had the pleasure of dining at, I noticed the sommelier actually tasted a little of each bottle before delivering to the table. What devotion to duty! That I have not seen anywhere else.
The reason for leaving the cork at the table is rather to demonstrate that the cork is correct - branded by the bottler/winemaker. It offers some support to the fact that the wine has not been tampered with.
That's probably one good reason for offering the cork to the patron at the table, but I've heard another. A friend once explained to me that one is supposed to _squeeze_ the cork and observe if droplets of wine emerge from the wine-side end. That indicates that the bottle has been stored correctly - at least as far as keeping the cork wet is concerned.
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.
At most stores, you find the wine bottles standing upright.... where the cork does not come into contact with the wine.... That may be one reason why so much of their wine goes bad......
Wine wholesalers should supply them with wine racks so that they can display the wine bottle correctly for sale......
I usually sniff corks from bottles I open myself just for the sake of interest. FWIW I get a lot of false positives - the cork smells musty IMO but the wine is fine. Can't remember any correct judgements, or other errors in either direction, but I do not keep a score.
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".
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.
I doubt the short term upright storage has anything to do with TCA contaminated (corked) bottles. If the cork is tainted, it is tainted, and will eventually impact the wine.
As long as the wine is not stored upright for more than a few months, the cork will not dry out, and the wine will not become oxidized (other than the small amount of oxygen in the bottle). Most volume brands, eg Gallo of Sonoma, Fetzer, Ch. St. Michelle, Hogue turn over fairly quickly.
If a store sells its premium wines, eg Harlan, Screaming Eagle, Chateau Lafite Roth., upright, in the direct sun, or too warm, you should find a different store.
A good store has horizontal racks and a good cooling system for their ageworthy wines.
On another note, I don't want a waiter's nose near my cork, whether he sniffs it and then lays it on the table or, puts it back in the bottle after sniffing.
In Europe it's now reckoned to be about 12% and it's becoming a real problem. The tree-huggers said we should stop denuding the cork forests by using cork, then realised that the cork forests only exist because of cork farmers, and now they're up in arms because we don't use enough cork. In the meantime we're buying bottles of wine at $15 dollars a time with a one-in-eight chance of being vinegar just because these borgeouis-no-jobs think they have a cause to represent.
I blame society - let me out and buy me a vinyard.
Surely not. I have never encountered any evidence, nor heard a first person account, of bottle switching in any restaurant I know of. It may happen, but not in any reputable restaurant, I would venture. By all accounts, the branding of corks stems from a much earlier era when (possibly) the practice was more commonplace than it appears to be today.
I don't know where you live, but in 2000 in Montreal at L'Express, we ordered a bottle of wine which my husband considered "corked." The waiter hospitably brought another brand like price. But the food was better than the wine. I'll take food in Quebec when traveling anytime over the food in U.S.
The steaks you mention are probably from Canada --
As a sommelier working in the Uk, i have seen this done quite often, and most sommeliers will tell you they dont really know why they do, it just seems to be a habit. Smelling the cork is rarely an accurate indicator of TCA contamination. Try opening a bottle of Chtx Cissac, the corks smell vile, but in 98% of the bottles the wine is perfectly fine. The only accurate way to tell if the wine is faulty is by nosing and tasting it.
As for me, for some strange reason i occasionally find myself smelling the cork, without realising it. maybe its genetic. ?!!!
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