Knowing When Wine Has Gone Bad

Knowing When Wine Has Gone Bad
Hi, I’m Farley still talking about wine today. I think something that also confuses people is determining if wine is bad or not. I think a lot of times people use the term cork and they are not really sure what they are talking about. This is sort in reference to ordering wine in a restaurant because a wine can be not what you expected and it can also be something you did not like but that does not necessarily mean that it is bad technically. It can be a fine wine and somebody else could like it but it’s not just to your taste so you can’t really blame your lack of knowledge or you not knowing what to order from the wine being bad. Times when a wine can be bad include when it is corked. What that means is that the actual cork which these corks that are not synthetic that are actually cork come from a particular tree in Portugal in which the bark is stripped off and then the trees are cut into slabs. Sometimes those pieces of wood are just thrown onto a forest floor while they cut the rest of the trees and what can happen is that wood can get wet and it can develop an invisible mold. Now that mold you can’t see, and so when the corks are cut and sent to various wineries across the world and put into the bottles. If that mold is present, then as the wine is stored with this cork that mold is actually going into the wine and it is sort of a musty, just off flavored and you can pretty much as soon as you smell the wine as soon as it is poured, it smells like extremely over exaggeration of the cork itself. Usually you can’t smell the cork which is why you don’t smell it in a restaurant. But if the wine itself smells kind of corky and is off, then it has gone bad and you should not have to pay for that. Another thing that can be wrong with wine is if it does get air into it some how and it becomes oxidized. You will be able to know that almost immediately. It’s a flaw that is easier to recognize than a corked wine I think because it smells like vinegar. It has already started turn and its had the oxygen go into the wine and it is going to smell like Sherry or Madara or just vinegar that sort of pungent, over the top smell. There are other flaws that are present in wine that can come from too much sulfur that can come from improper storage. Sometimes you will have wine that has cardboard mustiness to it and that is from improper storage. Sometimes it will go away after the wine has been opened and it will sort of fade out and the wine will still be good. So if you do open a bottle of wine that you think might not be quite right and you don’t feel like trying to take it back or it’s a wine you have had for a long time, come back to it. Don’t just immediately assume that it has gone bad and pour it out. It might dissipate so put the cork back in it, maybe come back to it 12 to 24 hours later and you might find that it has taken on a different taste and you actually like it. But there are times when a wine is bad and those are few and that might help you to do determine when they are.