Corked Wine Explained

Sometimes a bottle of wine can have a funny smell to it when opened. This musty smell is a compound called TCA or 2,4,6-trichloroanisole and is a reaction caused by mold, chlorine and the phenols in wine.  This is a problem with the cork, which is why it is often called being “corked.”  Sadly this means that the bottle is ruined, but there is a way to avoid it in the future.
Don’t avoid the winery or winemaker because this is a completely random event. Just make sure to look at corks a little closer from now on. Many corked bottles of wine have signs on the outer part of the cork. Things like a pushed up cork can be a sign that a bottle is corked. But don’t think that every bottle is bad, it is a very rare event. The compound can be found in other parts of wineries in things like cardboard pallets and wooden tools. But it is easy to get rid of and there are very few cases when a winery can’t get rid of the compound, but usually it is a simple matter of replacing a few things. The chances of a bottle in four bottle wine totes being bad is a slim chance to none though so don’t worry too much about it.