# Cork smells like dirty socks



## uavwmn (Dec 26, 2011)

Ok, I know that sounds weird, but it is true. I opened a fellow wine makers bottle of wine last night. It was a 2009 Viglier (sp).
I noticed when I uncorked the bottle, the cork was "wet" past the half way mark of the cork. And the bottom of the cork almost looked "moldy".
Needless to say the white wine didn't taste good at all.







I am guessing the cork was not sanitized and the wine went bad??


Kathie


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## Bartman (Dec 26, 2011)

Because the cork was wet more than half through, I would suspect the cause of the problem was a defective cork that allowed seepage of oxygen into the wine. The damage isn't caused by the wine seeping *out*, but that the cork was not airtight (or very close to airtight), or even watertight (as evidenced by the wine seeping through in the other direction). I had a similar problem with a bottle made by a small start-up winery - the cork looked good when I bought it, but after several months in the refrigerator on it side, a little wine had seeped out, so I knew oxygen could (and likely did) get in. It was undrinkable.

If the cork was not defective but unsanitized, it would probably still be watertight, but nasties might have grown inside the sealed bottle, and it wouldn't have been oxidized (unless the cork was sufficiently damaged by the mold/bacteria on the inside maybe?)


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## Bert (Dec 26, 2011)

I'm thinking poor sanitation would be a very good guess...and not just the cork, but bottle and other tools used in the wine making....


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## grapeman (Dec 26, 2011)

My thoughts are TCA or cork taint - 2,4,6 trichloroanisole. This is especially possible if the cork was real cork, even agglomerate. This can happen and does with normally cheaper corks. Be sure to keep all chlorine away from the corks and never sanitize corks with it.


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## Wade E (Dec 26, 2011)

Could be either what appleman said or just a poor quality cork and bad conditions for storing the wine.


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## ibglowin (Dec 26, 2011)

Cork Taint smell is often described as either "dirty socks" or "wet dog" in nature. Most of the time there is not any sign on the cork but if your seeing something that looks like mold on the end then it could have been a sanitization problem in the wine/bottle as well.


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## Bartman (Dec 26, 2011)

So, would the following work to remove the cork taint? Has anyone tried this?


"One method of removing TCA from tainted wine is to soak polyethylene
(a plastic used for applications such as milk containers and plastic 
food wrap) in the affected wine. The non-polar TCA molecule has a high 
affinity for the polyethylene molecule, thereby removing the taint from 
the wine. The surface area of polyethylene needed to reduce the taint to
sub-threshold levels is based on the TCA level in the affected wine, 
temperature, and the alcohol level of the wine.


This can be done at home, as advocated by Andrew Waterhouse, professor of wine chemistry at University of California, Davis, by pouring the wine into a bowl with a sheet of polyethylene plastic wrap. For ease of pouring, a pitcher, measuring cup, or decanter
can be used instead. Effective within a few minutes, the 
2,4,6-trichloroanisole molecule is chemically similar to polyethylene 
and will stick to the plastic.<sup id="cite_ref-nyttca_4-0" ="reference">[</span>5]"</span></sup>


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## uavwmn (Dec 27, 2011)

Appleman, it was a real cork, but he may have used a cheap one. I know he is meticulous about sanitizing thruout the process.
I was thinking a bad cork or air seeping thru.
I have drank a few of his bottles of wine and they have been good. This one was just a bad cork, I am thinking.


I should let him know about it.






Thanks for everyones help.


Kathie


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## Wade E (Dec 27, 2011)

Ive had this happen from a friend on here when he bought some cheaper natural corks off Ebay. People, corks is not where you want to save your money!!!!


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## uavwmn (Dec 29, 2011)

Wade, 


Thanks. And I am going to ask him where he got his corks.


Kathie


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