Talk:Cork taint

BBC News Magazine Website
Will this give rise to a new form of "corking" in wines for screw-tops? "Waiter, this wine is screwed."

--Spacejamie 14:05, 17 January 2007 (UTC)

The cork taint is the name given to the undesirable effect of contaminant 2,4,6-thrichloroanisol has on wine, but it is not always transmited by the cork. Several serious studies demonstrated that it can be transmited by wood barrels, bad transport conditions of the corks, bad stockage in poor conditions warehouses, and even by the wine itself. The cork has as long history of helping to preserve the good qualities of the wine, but like everything in this world is not 100% perfect, and it is unfair to blame only on the cork stopper the problem of the cork taint.

Agreed, but this is not widely known, and is not as common as cork-related problems. Reference below

Lecture notes from a UC-Davis wine course (Powerpoint format)

Brian Rock 03:03, 6 Feb 2004 (UTC)


 * Cork taint is pretty common, but other sources are not uncommon. First of all, the latest research shows that tribromoanisole (TBA) is also a contaminant. Second, many tastings of screwcapped wines show taint, even though they have no corks. I wrote the article and really think it needs some work. Wnissen 03:18, 7 Feb 2004 (UTC)


 * I've fleshed it out a bit - see what you think. I started out mainly wanting to make the point that cork taint is truly distinguished from other wine problems by being noticed when the wine is opened, hence the blame being assigned to the cork whether or not it's always the real source. Most of it was based on my understanding of the issue, though I somewhat uncomfortably cribbed some facts from a couple of pages, mostly the article now listed in External links. I didn't know about TBA so didn't add it; if someone else doesn't first I'll probably better rewrite the paragraph on "other contaminants", which is currently weak. btw the current estimate of incidence seems to be 3-5%, which is around 1-1.5 billion spoiled bottles sold per year. Certainly a problem that needs addressing, but I hate the smell of anything made with PVDC (such as Stelvin caps - which deserve their own article for Alcan's unsavoury attempt to monopolise the wine bottling industry). ;) - toh 22:23, 2004 Dec 13 (UTC)

INNOCORK Press Release
I'm a little concerned about the recent edits by Sundance79. The recent additions to this article read more like a press release. At the very least, this needs to be reworded to make it a little more encyclopedic and a little less like an advertisement. These additions may even need to be removed entirely. Gregmg 04:58, 16 March 2006 (UTC)

Figures for cork taint rates
Having an unsourced claim for "anecdotal evidence" of up to 15% taint rate strikes me as unsatisfactory and not up to WP:RS standards. Since I'm not a Wine Spectator subscriber, it would be good if it could be checked if the 7% figure refers specifically to cork taint rather than wine faults in general. I believe that the writings of Jamie Goode could be used to source WP:NPOV figures for cork taint rates, if anyone would like to check it out. Beware that both the cork industry and the alternative closure industry may have an interest in selective reporting of these figures. Tomas e (talk) 18:54, 5 June 2008 (UTC)
 * From the "Wine Spectator" source

In the past year, my staff and I have tracked the number of corky wines encountered in the blind tastings in our Napa office. Of the 2,800 new releases tasted there in 2005, 7 percent suffered from cork taint. That's approaching one bottle per case.AgneCheese/Wine 03:04, 6 June 2008 (UTC)


 * In any event, the percent is bound to change depending on what techniques are used, what countries are producing, storage methods, etc. It would be more useful -- if the figures are available, to talk about how to predict the chance of cork taint. Piano non troppo (talk) 14:16, 25 February 2009 (UTC)

I drink a bottle of wine almost every day, and I can tell you from a lifetime of experience, the problem of TCA contamination appears to be grossly overstated. I would say it's maybe one in 1,000 bottles. I wonder if this just isn't a case of some people being sensitive to this particular chemical, while others, like myself, are not. I prefer corks over screwcaps. I find the plastic lining of the screwcaps affects the taste of some wines.Daver852 (talk) 03:31, 19 January 2010 (UTC)daver852
 * There is a really good chance that you've had more tainted bottles than you realize. Sensitivity is the main thing but also has to do with the degree of contamination. Most of the estimates on TCA contamination deal with just the pure presence of some taint in the wine--not necessarily whether that amount is enough to trigger the recognition threshold for most of population. In small amounts TCA doesn't always give off that distinctive "wet cardboard" smell but rather may just come across as a wine with very simple or muted flavors. People trying the wine may not even recognize it as tainted and just think that the wine is simply not that good. AgneCheese/Wine 03:44, 19 January 2010 (UTC)

WikiProject Food and drink Tagging
This article talk page was automatically added with WikiProject Food and drink banner as it falls under Category:Food or one of its subcategories. If you find this addition an error, Kindly undo the changes and update the inappropriate categories if needed. The bot was instructed to tagg these articles upon consenus from WikiProject Food and drink. You can find the related request for tagging here. Maximum and careful attention was done to avoid any wrongly tagging any categories, but mistakes may happen... If you have concerns, please inform on the project talk page -- TinucherianBot (talk) 05:51, 4 July 2008 (UTC)

A little unclear
I am not a wikipedia editor, I am just writing this to provide some feedback. I came to this article not knowing what "corked wine" meant. I wanted to know what causes the "cork taint". The first paragraph says that the cork is responsible. But that doesn't answer the question, because all wines have a cork on the bottle. So what is the difference between most wines and those that are tainted? Is it the type of cork? Is it that some pieces have fallen into the wine? What is it? Answering that question would improve the article's clarity. thanks.--

TCA is a bacteria that grows on cork - on the cork trees and sometimes found on the ground where the cork trees grow. It's a natural (not harmful) bacteria that makes the wine taste Musty or Woody. 74.143.102.202 (talk) 01:29, 12 November 2009 (UTC)

TO BE CLEAR - TCA stands for trichloroanisole. it is NOT a bacterium, this is lunacy. it is in fact a biocide chemical. Masonpew (talk) 04:10, 24 March 2016 (UTC)masonpew


 * The first line of the second paragraph in the beginning of the article gives your answer "The chief cause of cork taint is the presence of 2,4,6-trichloroanisole (TCA) in the wine." The next paragraph under the "Production" heading then goes into details about how TCA enters the wine. It is called "cork taint" because cork is the most common carrier of TCA. When an infected cork comes into contact with the wine, the TCA spreads into the wine and it becomes "tainted". Hope this helps. AgneCheese/Wine 01:49, 12 November 2009 (UTC)

with regards to the above i would say that corks are not "infected" with TCA. they are treated with it, DELIBERATELY, by winemakers. the health effects can be debated but we should not waver over something this basic. the way in which this information was added makes me worry that it reflects a wine industry trying to dull consumer suspicion. Masonpew (talk) 04:10, 24 March 2016 (UTC)masonpew

Intro paragraph
I just took out the last sentence in the introductory par which said that trichloroanisole is "a compound that poses absolutely no risk to human health." I had added a "not in citation given" like a month or three ago, and nothing has been changed, so I feel the need to remove this information given that it a) is totally and completely unsubstantiated and b) is unlikely to be true given the general pattern of toxicity of polyhalogenated compounds in general, biocides in particular, aromatics to an often greater extent, yada yada yada — Preceding unsigned comment added by Masonpew (talk • contribs) 04:05, 24 March 2016 (UTC)