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When we hear a bottle of wine is “corked”, many of us expect to see pieces of cork floating in our glass and perhaps a crumbling, rotting cork falling off the corkscrew.
The truth is that you can’t always tell by looking at an opened bottle of wine whether a poor cork has tainted the wine’s flavours and aromas. Things might look impeccable, and yet the wine just tastes odd.
If the cork looks fine, then you might just put those earthy, musty flavours down to being from a kind of wine you don’t like.
Ernst Büscher from the German Wine Institute (DWI) says you shouldn’t be looking for cork problems, but smelling for them.

What you think you can taste you can actually smell. That’s why you should first use your nose when you suspect it.
White wines and sparkling wines in particular are sensitive to the influence of the cork. They should have a clear fruitiness and freshness – in the case of pinot blanc, for example, the scent is reminiscent of citrus notes; in the case of pinot gris, it goes in the direction of pear.

But if the smell is dull and reminiscent of a wet rag, that is a clear sign that cork has had an influence on the taste. This doesn’t happen overnight, but develops gradually.
At the beginning, the wine loses its brilliance – comparable to a grey veil over a picture. Many people then think the wine tastes boring.
With red wines, this development is even more difficult to recognise.

If the wine has an intense aroma with berry notes or toasty aromas from the barrique (oak barrel) and a lot of tannins, it is more difficult to detect off flavours. Even professionals sometimes fail to recognise musty notes.
If you suspect a bottle served at a restaurant to be spoiled, consider asking the waiter to smell the glass.
Then you could ask if the wine had a cork or screw cap and, in the case of a cork, ask nicely for a second bottle to be opened. You can usually smell the difference in a direct comparison.

The substance that triggers the taste of cork is produced when the corks are bleached, and is extremely odour-intensive.
Thanks to improved quality management by cork manufacturers, the risk of off flavours has decreased significantly.
But there is no such thing as 100 per cent certainty.

Incidentally, bottles with screw caps can also “cork”, for example if the caps have been stored directly next to cardboard boxes.
If a wine is corked, throw it away, because it is spoiled. It is also no longer suitable for cooking.


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Food and Drinks

‘Corked’ wine: what it is, how you can tell whether a bottle is affected, and should you still drink it or not?

Both red and white wine can become “corked”, but it can be hard to tell if this has occurred just by looking at a bottle. You need to smell it. Photo: Shutterstock

The best way to detect cork problems in wine is by smelling it. Photo: Shutterstock

Pinot blanc and other white wines should have a clear fruity freshness. If the smell of the wine is dull and reminds you of a wet rag, it could well be corked. Photo: AFP

It is more difficult to detect corking in red wine than in white wine. Photo: Shutterstock

If you suspect a bottle served to you at a restaurant to be corked, it could be a good idea to ask the waiter to smell the glass. Photo: Shutterstock

The risk of wine becoming corked has decreased, but it still happens. Photo: Shutterstock

Why natural wine is having its moment – ‘people are tired of drinking things that are over-manipulated’ – and 7 places in Hong Kong to try it

La Cabane Wine Cellar on Shin Hing Street, just below Hollywood Road in Central, has long been Hong Kong’s go-to place for natural, low-intervention, organic and biodynamic wines. Several newer places are providing competition. Photo: La Cabane

Yatbui caters to the younger generations of Hong Kong wine enthusiasts. Photo: Yatbui

Brett Goss is a co-founder of Yatbui. Photo: Yatbui

Yatbui promotes “free-spirited drinking”. Photo: Yatbui

La Cabane Wine Bistro serves natural, organic and biodynamic wines. Photo: La Cabane

The indoor dining area of Terroirs by LQV in Central, Hong Kong. Photo: LQV

ThinkWine in Central offers a variety of wine-centric, curated experiences. Photo: Instagram/@ThinkWine

A low-intervention wine collection at Vivant, a French bistro on Central’s Lyndhurst Terrace. Photo: Vivant

Shady Acres offers a variety of natural wine options. Photo: Shady Acres

The outside of Blue Supreme in Sheung Wan. Photo: Blue Supreme

Natural wine at Crushed, a new wine bar in Sai Ying Pun. Photo: Crushed

Sweden is ‘the new frontier of winemaking’. Meet the growers profiting from climate change as traditional wine-producing regions battle rising heat

The Swedeish flag flies above vines at Kullabergs Vingard, in Nyhamnsläge, Sweden. Photo: AP

Felix Ahrberg, of Kullabergs Vingard, is one of the winemakers propelling Sweden’s young wine industry. He and others talk about how they are profiting from the rising temperatures that are causing problems for traditional wine-producing regions. Photo: AP

Sweden’s national flag flies above Kullabergs Vingard. Swedish winemaking is an industry with growing ambition. Photo: AP

Wine being poured at Kullabergs Vingård. The vineyard’s wine is now drunk at high-end restaurants from Europe to Asia. Photo: AP

A tractor works the grapevines at Kullabergs Vingard. Photo: AP

A vineyard in Klagshamn, Sweden. Climate change means that areas once too cold for the cultivation of certain grapes are now ripe for viniculture. Photo: AP

Emma Berto and Romain Chichery at the Thora Vingard, in Båstad, Sweden. The pair say they face fewer extreme climate incidents in Sweden than in France. Photo: AP

Grapes at a vineyard in Klagshamn. Many Swedish vineyards cultivate Solaris, a grape adapted to cooler climates and resistant to disease. Photo: AP

A wild rabbit jumps between grapevines at the Thora Vingård. Photo: AP

A worker prunes leaves at Kullabergs Vingard. Despite presenting advantages, winemaking in Sweden does have drawbacks, including a difficulty in attracting trained wine professionals to work at vineyards. Photo: AP

A waiter pours wine during a tasting at Kullabergs Vingard. Photo: AP

Rising temperatures are helping Sweden’s wine industry, but can also lead to torrential rain and other disruptive weather. Photo: AP

Ahrberg walks past fermentation tanks at Kullabergs Vingard. Photo: AP

Sunset at the Kullabergs Vingard. A recent ruling by Swedish Supreme Court gives winemakers hope that the government will get behind the industry more. Photo: AP

Göran Amnegard, owner of Blaxsta wine, at a wine tasting in Flen, Sweden. Photo: AP

Sake finds new fans in India, helped by how it pairs with Indian food – rice-based, umami-heavy and rich, like Japanese food

Ravi Joshi tastes sake with a renowned sake master in Japan. Photo: Sake Club of India

India is taking up sake in a big way, with more and more restaurants and bars selling the Japanese drink, and enthusiasts (such as sake Club India’s Ravi Joshi, above) finding it a good match for India’s rich, rice-based and umami-laden food. Photo: Sake Club of India

Ravi Joshi of Sake Club India working in a sake brewery in Japan. Photo: Sake Club India

A sake training course at the Lodhi Hotel in Delhi. Photo: Sake Club India

The sake bomb cocktail (beer and sake) is a crowd favourite at Rick’s Bar in Delhi’s Taj Mahal Hotel. Photo: Taj Mahal Hotels

Rick’s Bar at Delhi’s Taj Mahal Hotel is seeing an unprecedented interest in sake, says restaurant manager Mukesh Kumar (above). Photo: Taj Mahal Hotels

Birjesh Kumar, executive chef at Le Meridien Gurugram, is a fan of sake. Photo: Birjesh Kumar

Joshi (right) visits a sake brewery shop in Japan. Photo: Sake Club India

Lifestyle

Food & Drink

Cork taint is a defect in wine that spoils its taste. But it can be hard to detect ‘corked’ wine by sight alone, which is why it helps to know what to smell for
What are the signs of it? How does it occur? What do you say if you think you’ve been served corked wine at a restaurant? What to do with a corked wine? Read on


You cannot always see that a wine is “corked” – tainted – but you should be able to detect it by smell. So what should you sniff for? And can corked wine still be drunk?


Wine and Spirits

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Explainer

Explainer | ‘Corked’ wine: what it is, how you can tell whether a bottle is affected, and should you still drink it or not?