Molecule In Corked Wine Plugs Up Your Nose

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Molecule In Corked Wine Plugs Up Your Nose

Posted by Unknown on Monday September 16, 2013 @01:02PM from the apply-clothespin-to-nose dept.

sciencehabit writes "Ever send a bottle of wine back at a restaurant? If you weren't just being a pretentious snob, then it was probably because the wine seemed 'corked' — had a musty odor and didn't taste quite right. Most likely, the wine was contaminated with a molecule called 2,4,6-trichloroanisole (TCA), the main cause of cork taint. But a new study by Japanese researchers concludes that you do not smell TCA directly; rather, TCA blocks up your sense of smell and distorts your ability to detect odors. The findings could help the food and beverage industry improve its products and lead to less embarrassment for both you and your waiter."

27 of 134 comments (clear)

Min score:

Reason:

Sort:

So stop using corks by geek · 2013-09-16 13:17 · Score: 4, Interesting

Seriously, other than nostalgia why are they still using corks when much better methods have existed for decades?
1. Re:So stop using corks by binarylarry · 2013-09-16 13:22 · Score: 4, Funny
  
  "Greetings sir, I've selected the finest cans of wine for your dining experience tonight. Would you like some pork rhines to help wash that merlot down?"
  
  --
  Mod me down, my New Earth Global Warmingist friends!
2. Re:So stop using corks by Nerdfest · 2013-09-16 13:26 · Score: 5, Interesting
  
  Very true. Stelvin closures, Plastic corks, glass stoppers, all superior. The really amazing part if all the labour that goes into each real cork. Cut, cleaned, bleached, sorted, the re-sorted, much of it by hand. It's actually amazing that they're so cheap. It really sucks when a bad $0.30 cork ruins a 60$ bottle of wine.
3. Re:So stop using corks by Darinbob · 2013-09-16 13:33 · Score: 3, Funny
  
  Cans, pssh. What's wrong with boxes?
4. Re:So stop using corks by dosius · 2013-09-16 13:47 · Score: 2
  
  Two Buck Chuck, the cheap wine from Aldi Nord-owned Trader Joe's that won a taste test and made French wine connoisseurs' heads explode.
  
  --
  What you hear in the ear, preach from the rooftop Matthew 10.27b
5. Re:So stop using corks by Anonymous Coward · 2013-09-16 13:50 · Score: 2, Interesting
  
  I agree that wine drinkers are usually guilty of pretension, but let's not pretend like taste and price have "almost nothing" in common. If you go buy 4 random bottles of $8 wine and 4 random bottles of $20 wine, you'll taste a substantial difference even in a blinded test. I'd guess that 1/2 of $20 bottles of wine are enjoyable as opposed to about 1/5 of $8 bottles.
  That said, a good $8 bottle might be every bit as good as the good $20 bottles.
6. Re:So stop using corks by bill_mcgonigle · 2013-09-16 13:52 · Score: 5, Insightful
  
  Seriously, other than nostalgia why are they still using corks when much better methods have existed for decades?
  There's almost nothing rational in the entire wine economy.
  
  --
  My God, it's Full of Source!
  OUTSIDE_IP=$(dig +short my.ip @outsideip.net)
7. Re:So stop using corks by DNS-and-BIND · 2013-09-16 13:55 · Score: 4, Informative
  
  In fact, a box is one of the best ways to store and distribute wine.
  
  --
  Shutting down free speech with violence isn't fighting fascism. It IS fascism!
8. Re:So stop using corks by horm · 2013-09-16 14:11 · Score: 4, Funny
  
  All that work creates jobs. Do you want to destroy American jobs?
9. Re:So stop using corks by PopeRatzo · 2013-09-16 14:23 · Score: 2
  
  Seriously, other than nostalgia why are they still using corks when much better methods have existed for decades?
  Amen. I haven't drunk wine from a corked bottle in a decade. It's twist-off or nothing for this connoisseur.
  Say, could you spare two dollars so I can get a little taste... uh, I mean, "something to eat"?
  
  --
  You are welcome on my lawn.
10. Re:So stop using corks by blueg3 · 2013-09-16 14:24 · Score: 5, Informative
  
  Plastic corks, glass stoppers
  No, no. Those things suck. Plastic corks are like regular corks, except they don't get moldy and they're a royal pain to get out of the bottle. Glass stoppers are easy to get out unless you break a bottle opener on it by accident. They're also vaguely resealable.
  There are two modern methods that are amazing for wine. Screw caps are stupid easy to use, cheap, and resealable. Modern, pioneering winemakers that don't worry about what people think about the presentation use screw caps. (They also often make great wine at affordable prices.) The other method is the box (or rather, a bag inside a box). A box looks completely classless, but it's one of the best ways of storing wine because pouring wine doesn't expose any of the remaining wine to oxidation. This means you can make a (disturbingly compact) 3L box of wine and use it over the course of a week. Or two days. Or a month. The wine stays good. Mercifully, some people -- not all Australian -- are making good wine in boxes now.
11. Re:So stop using corks by arth1 · 2013-09-16 14:44 · Score: 4, Informative
  
  But sometimes you want the oxidation. A couple of my favourite wines need decanting before the flavour is right.
12. Re:So stop using corks by arth1 · 2013-09-16 14:47 · Score: 2
  
  I'd say you've already drank too much if you enjoy 1/5 of four bottles of wine. ;-)
  I live in New England. Enjoying a fifth is tradition here.
13. Re:So stop using corks by mrmeval · 2013-09-16 14:52 · Score: 5, Funny
  
  Bag in a box wine review: The polyvinylchloride adds a particularly delightful emphasis to the cardboard while the shades of petroleum
  byproducts are a welcome ablative to the virus stunted grapes musty
  grandeur.
  --mrmeval 2007
  
  --
  I'd go on a Vegan diet but the delivery time from Vega is too long. --brownkitty
14. Re:So stop using corks by aXis100 · 2013-09-16 14:54 · Score: 4, Informative
  
  You can still decant the amount you'll be drinking that night (e.g. usign a fast breather) and leave the rest in the box for another day.
  Seriously, was that so hard to figure out?
15. Re:So stop using corks by breeze95 · 2013-09-16 15:14 · Score: 2
  
  Seriously, other than nostalgia why are they still using corks when much better methods have existed for decades?
  Do you know why the older wine gets the more expensive it is? Aging. As wine ages the taste becomes refined, and the aging process depends on oxidation. Corks are permeable which allows the oxidation process (aging) to continue. Using materials other that cork stops the oxidation process making the wine less desirable and reduces the price of the wine.
16. Re:So stop using corks by binarylarry · 2013-09-16 15:23 · Score: 3, Funny
  
  They're pork rinds that are only made in the Rhine valley.
  For true connoisseurs only.
  
  --
  Mod me down, my New Earth Global Warmingist friends!
17. Re:So stop using corks by blueg3 · 2013-09-16 15:51 · Score: 2
  
  I'm not sure that effect is oxidation, but otherwise, yes. The good way to do that is with a decanter, though, rather than just opening the bottle. The bottle's small neck limits airflow. If you're going to expose it to air, might as well do it fast.
18. Re:So stop using corks by Dahamma · 2013-09-16 17:15 · Score: 2
  
  Corks are permeable which allows the oxidation process (aging) to continue. Using materials other that cork stops the oxidation process making the wine less desirable and reduces the price of the wine.
  No, not really. Oenology research mostly says the oxygen that gets into the wine from the bottling is plenty enough to age for years, and extra oxygen is MUCH more likely to spoil the wine than improve it.
  There may be a very VERY slight percentage of wine aged for a very long time that might improve with a perfect cork letting in just enough oxygen to keep the aging going without spoiling it, but for the VAST majority of wine current research says it's (and by "it's" that's the the Bordeauxs, cabs, etc) probably at its best in 25 years. And it's a crapshoot as to whether anything older will be any good at all. For the ABSOLUTELY OVERWHELMING majority of wines a synthetic cork will be as good if not better.
  Ok, I'm not including citations because seriously why bother, but search this topic and the top 5 results will say the same thing...
19. Re:So stop using corks by troon · 2013-09-16 18:39 · Score: 3, Informative
  
  Interestingly, polythene (e.g. cling film) neutralizes the TCA molecules in corked wine...
  
  --
  Ydco co ,df C erb-y go. a Ekrpat t.fxrapev
20. Re:So stop using corks by gl4ss · 2013-09-16 23:57 · Score: 2
  
  look man, you're not going wait until it airs anyways. and you're going to do it for the whole bottle.
  want a fast good way to do it? pour it into a blender and hit it. no need to air the whole bag.
  natural cork corks are just a gimmick in this day and age.
  
  --
  world was created 5 seconds before this post as it is.
price vs. taste by King_TJ · 2013-09-16 13:38 · Score: 2

Yeah, I'm not even a really big wine connoisseur, but I'd say the high priced wines have more to do with vintage than any other single factor. The idea that "The older, the better!" is only true in a very general sense and subject to so many exceptions and other mitigating factors, it's really not a good way to determine if a given bottle of wine will taste good to you.
At some point, I think it's more about showing off/snobbery, really.... That feeling of superiority one gets from cracking open a bottle that's sat, undisturbed, for so many years. People will pay for that experience.
wrong person to blame... by o_ferguson · 2013-09-16 13:41 · Score: 2, Funny

surely it's the sommelier who will be embarrassed, not the waiter...

--
- In Soviet Korea, only old people loose all their bases to Natalie Portman's petrified hot grits overlords.
Re:Am I the only one... by The+Grim+Reefer · 2013-09-16 14:36 · Score: 2

that giggled at the phrase "cork taint"? Please don't tell me I'm the only one.
Nope. I was wondering why anyone would pay $20+ to drink something that smelled like taint.
"cork taint" by hduff · 2013-09-16 15:58 · Score: 3, Funny

Unintentionally funny.

--
"I believe in Karma. That means I can do bad things to people all day long and I assume they deserve it." : Dogbert
carafe by SgtChaireBourne · 2013-09-16 20:48 · Score: 3, Informative

If you want to oxygenate the box wine before serving, just pour it into a carafe a little ahead of time. The wine remaining in the box stays as it is but the wine in the carafe gets the oxygen needed to take care of some of the tannins. Seriously, even with wine in a bottle, using a carafe is a good way to deal with tannins.
A nice carafe can also help show off the wine itself.

--
Beta is broken and the link to classic doesn't work. Stop wasting our time or there won't be anybody left here.
Wine in boxes by demon+driver · 2013-09-16 20:59 · Score: 3, Funny

In fact, a box is one of the best ways to store and distribute wine.
True! I, too, buy most of my wine in boxes. Usually containing six bottles each. Very convenient!