Corked wine
<DIV><P><B>Cork taint</B> is a broad term referring to a <A title="Wine fault" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wine_fault">wine fault</A> characterized by a set of undesirable smells or tastes found in a bottle of <A title=Wine href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wine">wine</A>, especially spoilage that can only be detected after bottling, <A title="Aging of wine" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aging_of_wine">aging</A> and opening. Though modern studies have shown that other</P>
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<P> factors can also be responsible for taint – including wooden barrels, <A class=mw-redirect title="Storage conditions (wine)" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Storage_conditions_(wine)">storage conditions</A> and the transport of corks and wine – the <A title="Cork (material)" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cork_(material)">cork</A> <A title="Closure (container)" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Closure_(container)">stopper</A> is normally considered to be responsible, and a wine found to be tainted on opening is said to be "corked" or "corky". Cork taint can affect wines irrespective of price and quality level.</P>
<P>The chief cause of cork taint is the presence of <A class=mw-redirect title=2,4,6-trichloroanisole href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2,4,6-trichloroanisole">2,4,6-trichloroanisole</A> (TCA), and/or <A class=mw-redirect title=2,4,6-tribromoanisole href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2,4,6-tribromoanisole">2,4,6-tribromoanisole</A> (TBA), in the wine, which in many cases will have been transferred from the cork, but which also can have been transferred through the cork rather than from it. Corked wine containing TCA has a characteristic odor, variously described as resembling a moldy newspaper, wet dog, damp cloth, or damp basement. In almost all cases of corked wine the wine's native <A title="Aroma of wine" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aroma_of_wine">aromas</A> are reduced significantly, and a very tainted wine is quite unpalatable, although harmless. While the human threshold for detecting TCA is measured in the single-digit parts per trillion, this can vary by several orders of magnitude depending on an individual's sensitivity. Detection is also complicated by the <A title="Olfactory system" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olfactory_system">olfactory system</A>'s particularly quick <A title=Habituation href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Habituation">habituation</A> to TCA, making the smell less obvious on each subsequent sniff.</P>
<P>The cork-industry group <A title=APCOR href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/APCOR">APCOR</A> cites a study showing a 0.7-1.2% taint rate. In a 2005 study of 2800 bottles tasted at the <I><A title="Wine Spectator" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wine_Spectator">Wine Spectator</A></I> blind-tasting facilities in Napa, California, 7% of the bottles were found to be tainted.</P></DIV>
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