Cork taint

Cork taint is a broad term referring to an off-odor and off-flavor <a href="/facts/Wine_fault/XmWUxr7e">wine fault</a> arising from the presence in the cork of aroma-intense compounds that are transferred into wine after bottling. 
Cork taint is characterized by a set of undesirable smells or tastes found in a bottle of <a href="/facts/Wine/JF0wHs7y">wine</a>, described as "musty", "mouldy", "earthy", or "mushroom". It causes losses to the industry (the estimated share of affected bottles is between 1% and 5%), and can destroy the reputation of a winery that is particularly unlucky (in rare cases up to a third of the bottles can be tainted). A wine found to be tainted on opening is said to be corked or "corky".
Not every contaminant in the cork is considered a "cork taint": for the issue to be classified as such, the problem should be caused by a compound introduced due to normal cork processing or forming in the cork naturally (for example, external <a href="/facts/Naphthalene/RU2sV8mN">naphthalene</a> contamination during transportation is excluded). There are multiple sources of cork taint, but the <a href="/facts/2%2c4%2c6-Trichloroanisole/Qa61qJVt">2,4,6-Trichloroanisole</a> (TCA) is by far prevalent, with estimated 80-85% of all cork taints due to TCA. Occasionally, the same compounds found in the wine are not there due to the cork, but actually are introduced before bottling from the grapes, wooden barrels, and processing equipment.

Cork taint open-in-new

Cork taint