bitter wine

Could be corked, i.e. ruined by a bad cork. It's fairly common.

John

Interesting comment. I don't think that, in far too many years of drinking wine, I have ever tasted a corked wine! I have always been told that if I do I will recognise it instantly, I wouldn't have thought it is "common" at all!

What I want to know is how he made a wine kit last two years!

Hi Trevor,

Many people just aren't sensitive to TCA (the chemical responsible for "corked" wines). The same is said for a lot of other compounds which can explain why some people love brocolli and others hate it.

Sensitivity to TCA doesn't appear to have anything to do with experience or how good your sense of smell/taste is. It's just one of those things, some are sensitive, some are not.

People that aren't sensitive to TCA may just find the wine flat and lifeless, especially compared to an identical bottle which is not tainted by TCA.

Andy

That's exactly true. Some people are sensitive even below 2ppt, (parts per trillion!) like James Laube of the Wine Spectator. Many people can detect

Regards,

John

Because of the comparatively high rate of corking many vineyards in my area (NZ,Marlborough) are using screw tops on their good whites.

I hate to bring this up because we've had a long, drawn out discussion on AFW about this topic, but there are sources of TCA taint other than cork.

Andy

The current issue of Vineyard & Winery Management (Jan/Feb 2004) has a good article discussing the TCA problem at Hanzell Winery in CA. Basically any interaction between chlorine and wood can eventually cause TCA taint. Very enlightening.