If you’ve ever opened a bottle of wine that smelled of damp rags or cardboard and had a stale, moldy flavor, it was probably a corked wine, and suffered from a defect called “cork taint.” Cork taint is a type of spoilage caused mainly by a chemical compound known as 2,4,6 – trichloroanisole (TCA).
TCA is a chemical substance that forms only in natural cork when certain fungi encounter chlorides that are present in some of the solutions used by wineries for cleaning and sanitation. This substance is usually transferred from the cork itself, but may also seep through it from outside.
Cork taint affects 3-7% of all wines, and although unappealing, corked wines aren’t harmful to drink and can usually be returned. Many corkmakers and wineries have responded with changes to their manufacturing and sanitation methods, but it’s unlikely that corked wines can ever be wholly eliminated.
