Cork taint
Wine fault often attributed to the presence of trichloroanisole (TCA) from the cork / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Cork taint is a broad term referring to an off-odor and off-flavor wine fault[1] arising from the presence of 2,4,6-trichloroanisole (TCA), a chemical compound that represents one of the strongest off-flavors, and one "generated naturally in foods/beverages", in particular wines, that considerably reduces the quality of these products.[2][better source needed]
Cork taint is characterized by a set of undesirable smells or tastes found in a bottle of wine, especially spoilage that can only be detected after bottling, aging and opening.[not verified in body] Though modern studies have shown that other factors can also be responsible for taint—including wooden barrels, storage conditions and the transport of corks and wine[not verified in body]—the cork stopper is normally considered to be responsible, and a wine found to be tainted on opening is said to be corked or "corky". Cork taint can affect wines irrespective of price and quality level.[not verified in body]
The chief cause of cork taint is the presence of the chemical compounds 2,4,6-trichloroanisole (TCA) or 2,4,6-tribromoanisole (TBA) in the wine, which in many cases will have been transferred from the cork, but which also can have been transferred through the cork rather than from it.[not verified in body] TCA is a compound which does not occur naturally;[dubious – discuss] It is created when some fungi are treated with chlorinated phenolic compounds,[dubious – discuss] which are types of antimicrobial agents used in the processing of wood. This class of compounds is a chief factor responsible for the problem associated with mold liable to be found in corks; very small amounts of this compound, on the order of nanograms, can be responsible for this defect.[not verified in body]
Corked wine containing TCA has a characteristic odor, variously described as resembling a moldy newspaper, wet dog, damp cloth, or damp basement;[not verified in body] in almost all cases of corked wine, the wine's native aromas are reduced significantly, and a very tainted wine is quite unpalatable, although harmless.[not verified in body] While the human threshold for detecting TCA is measured in the single-digit parts per trillion, this can vary by several orders of magnitude depending on an individual's sensitivity,[not verified in body] where the detection limit is also complicated by the olfactory system's particularly quick habituation to TCA, making the smell less obvious on each subsequent sniff.[not verified in body]