🍷 Cork taint
Cork taint is a wine fault with a musty, mouldy, wet-cardboard off-odour, caused mainly by 2,4,6-trichloroanisole (TCA).
Cork taint is a wine fault: a musty, mouldy or wet-cardboard off-odour caused mainly by 2,4,6-trichloroanisole (TCA). A 2022 review (Tarasov et al.) notes that haloanisoles play the major role and that some authors consider "musty taint" or "mouldy taint" more accurate terms, since the compound does not come only from cork.
TCA forms when filamentous fungi methylate 2,4,6-trichlorophenol. In cork this chlorophenol came from biocides and from chlorine bleaching or chlorinated water used in processing before about 1990. In cellars, contaminated wood, pallets, paints and barrels can release TCA into the air, and screw caps, plastic stoppers and corks can absorb it. The detection threshold in wine is about 1.4-1.5 ng/L, often lower in white and sparkling wines.
Producers test cork with OIV and ISO methods: stoppers are soaked for 24 hours in 12% ethanol or wine and analysed by gas chromatography. Other measures include steam or supercritical CO2 treatment of cork, replacing wooden pallets and ventilating the cellar. Tainted wine can be treated with polymer absorbents, zeolite filter sheets or yeast hulls; blending is risky and not recommended.
How it connects to Wine
🍷 Cork taint → kind of → 🍷 Wine faults → kind of → 🍷 Winemaking → kind of → 🍷 Wine
Links
- Next step
- 🍷 Natural cork
- What it affects
- 🍷 2,4,6-Trichloroanisole
- What affects it
- 🍷 Natural cork, 🍷 Synthetic cork, 🍷 Screw cap
- Part of
- 🍷 Wine faults
Frequently asked questions
What is cork taint?
A wine fault with a musty, mouldy, wet-cardboard odour, caused mainly by 2,4,6-trichloroanisole (TCA).
Where does cork taint come from?
From fungi that methylate 2,4,6-trichlorophenol, present in treated cork and in cellar wood, pallets and barrels.
Can cork taint be tested for?
Yes. OIV and ISO methods soak stoppers for 24 hours in 12% ethanol or wine and analyse the extract by gas chromatography.
What to read next
- 🍷 Natural cork — A one-piece stopper cut from the bark of the cork oak.
- 🍷 Screw cap — A wine bottle closure with an aluminium casing and a sealing liner, opened by unscrewing.
- 🍷 Synthetic cork — A synthetic cork is a plastic stopper for a wine bottle that contains no cork bark.
Similar
🍷 Reduction (wine) · 🍷 Volatile acidity · 🍷 Acetic acid bacteria · 🍷 Oxidation of wine · 🍷 Brettanomyces