Dive Deep into Wine: What Makes a Good Wine?

You have read about how to walk your guests through a wine tasting and now it’s time to understand some common wine faults. Take another deep dive with us and determine if the bottle you bought tastes and looks how it is supposed to.

A wine fault, or undesirable characteristic, can take away from your experience at any party or dinner you attend. There are multiple different faults, but the experts at Ocean Prime say the four most common ones are:

1. Corked Wine
2. Oxidation
3. Light Strike
4. Reduction/sulfur

Corked Wine 

Cork taint occurs when chlorophenol, a flaw that can occur naturally in cork, reacts with a fungus to create a compound called TCA. Wine will usually become corked when packaged by the distributor.

If the wine smells musty or like mold wet cardboard, it is likely corked. Some even describe the smell like a damp basement. The taste will be flat and musty with a distinct astringency in severe cases. The wine will also lack fruitiness.

It is one of the more common faults experienced with wine, affecting about 5-7% of wines, globally. Unfortunately, there is no easy way to remove the fault.

Oxidation 

This happens to all wines over time, which is why most bottles only last a short time after it’s opened. However, if the wine is stored improperly, this can happen before you open the bottle. Exposure to too much oxygen causes this fault.

You can detect this fault by looking at the color of wine or the aroma. If it looks partially brown or smells like bruised apples, it is oxidized. Keep in mind that Marsala and Madeira have a brown tint to them, so you’ll have to rely on the aroma to detect this fault.

Light Strike 

There’s a reason most bottles of wine are stored in a dark bottle in a cellar away from the sun. Exposure to direct sunlight, even if it’s artificial, increases chemical reactions within wine. This causes the wine to age early, giving it a wet sweater smell.

White wines are most effected. There is no way to fix this fault, so be sure to store your bottle in a cool dark place.

Reduction & Sulfur 

This happens when wine does not get enough oxygen during the winemaking process. It gives it a sulfur smell (rotten eggs, cooked cabbage or burnt matches).

This fault can be easily fixed by decanting the bottle and/or stirring it with a silver spoon.

Is This a Fault? Nope 

There are two occasions where you may believe your wine is faulted, when it is not.

The first misconception is known as Brett and is when the Brettanomyces microbe is present in the bottle. It gives the wine a barnyard or leathery smell. This smell can be unpleasant, but winemakers will add this microbe to give it an earthy and rustic aroma some guests enjoy.

The second misconception is the presence of tartrate crystals. They come from tartaric acid and potassium—both natural components of grapes—binding during the chilling or aging process.

Some winemakers will separate the crystals, before bottling, by using a process called “cold stabilization.” If you purchase a bottle with these crystals, you can decant the wine with a filter to remove them.

In the world of wine, the characteristics are just a small part of your experience. Behind every bottle, there’s a story to be heard and the experts at Ocean Prime will help you elevate your experience with these stories. Are you ready for the story behind Black Stallion, a Cabernet Sauvignon from Napa Valley?