Using a Cork as a wine stopper allows the contents of the bottle to come into contact with trace amounts of air, which is good for aging fine wines but also carries the risk of Cork Taint.
Cork contamination is arguably one of the most common wine defects, with cork-contaminated wines often emitting unpleasant odors such as musty, wet cardboard and wet newspaper.
So, how does cork contamination come about?
Is contaminated wine still drinkable?
What is cork contamination?
As the name suggests, cork contamination refers to the contamination of wine by the sealing cork, and this contamination is mainly caused by a chemical called Trichloroanisole (TCA), which has the full name 2,4, 6-trichloroanisole.
In addition, another chemical, Tribromoanisole (2,4,6-Tribromoanisole, or TBA), can have similar effects on wine, though not as severe as TCA.
So how does TCA come about?
It is actually the result of an interaction between phenolic compounds, chlorides and naturally occurring airborne bacteria and fungi such as yeast, Penicilium, Aspergillus and Botrytis Cinerea.
Although cork contamination was known in the early 20th century, it was not until the 1980s that TCA was identified as a major cause of cork contamination.
Two, how is cork pollution produced?
Although cork contamination is often found in cork-sealed wines, sometimes winemaking equipment can produce TCA, which can contaminate a large number of wines or even an entire winery, so that even screw-capped wines can become cork-contaminated.
The main causes of cork pollution are as follows: 1. The winery does not clean the winemaking process in place or uses chlorine-containing cleaner.
If hygiene measures are not in place during the winemaking process, it is easy to breed various moulds, which can cause TCA.
In addition, if the wine cellar or oak barrel is cleaned with a chlorine-containing cleaner, the oak barrel will also easily produce TCA after contact with it.
