The Bad Bottle

Nobody’s perfect. Even with sanitary modern techniques, bad bottles occur. What should one do?

First, one should understand that a bad bottle has a technical flaw, not an aesthetic one. A bad bottle betrays flavors and aromas unintended by the winemaker. The following represent the main reasons for bad bottles:

• Tainted corks
• Poor storage of bottles
• Excessive sulfur in wine

The blame, or responsibility, for these vary, but if you the consumer receive a bottle with any of the above attributes, you should expect the restaurant or store to offer a replacement. I will go into greater depth with each bullet point because misconceptions exist.

Tainted Corks

Simply enough, the cork harvested from the Cork Oak (quercus suber)becomes tainted by bacteria. This taint transfers to the wine, leaving a distinctive dank, musty, and unpleasant aroma. I have seen estimates that from 1% to 7% of corks are tainted (to varying degrees). Don’t blame the winemaker for the corked wine.

Poor Storage of Bottles

Long term storage of wine requires that bottles be positioned so that the cork remains in contact with the wine. Storing wines thus keeps the cork pliable, and that keeps the seal firm. If a bottle remains upright too long, the cork will shrink, and too much air will interact with the wine. We know this interaction as the process of oxidation.

Oxidized wines, both white and red, turn brown, lose fruit and acidity, and otherwise lose all charm. All wines head that way. The very slow transfer of oxygen through the cork allows a wine to develop nuances and subtleties, but the rapid transfer that happens because of a defective closure ruins a wine.

Extreme heat, extreme cold, and extreme temperature variation also play havoc with wines. Excessively leaky corks give a clue that wines were stored poorly. In taste, you will find the wines flat, fruitless, and always disappointing.

Excessive Sulfur in Wine

Winemakers use sulfur throughout the winemaking process, to stop oxidation and to kill yeasts and bacteria. If poorly regulated, such aromas as matchsticks, rotten eggs, and onions will reign, and not in a nice way. In some cases, sulfur smells blow away, and all can be forgiven. If the sulfur presence lingers, it’s a problem. The winemaker goofed.

Any wine sold in the US with sulfites above a certain level must carry a warning label. This warning serves those people with sensitivity to sulfites. The sensitivity manifests in asthmatic reactions. From what I have read, sulfites do NOT cause headaches. Essentially all wines contain sulfites: yeast produce sulfites. The sulfite warning does not suggest that a sulfur taint exists in the wine.

The Fault Could Be Yours

Bad bottles happen, but technological improvements have made them rarer. People sometimes call a wine faulty that is simply too young or just not to the person’s taste. For instance, people will say a wine has turned, become vinegar. While that could happen, with today’s technology, don’t expect it. Leaving a bottle open for days will present a better chance for a wine to turn. In most cases, people who make that claim just do not like the high acidity that a young wine meant to age might have.

I know of a restaurant owner who gave diners an entire meal because the wine he served had, everyone involved believed, ground glass in it. Ignorance cost him. That ground glass was in fact a precipitation of tartaric acid, natural in most wines. Tartrate crystals form in some wines when the wine is chilled. Bulk wine producers often flash chill their wines to precipitate these crystals. Processed, these crystals become cream of tartar, which I think helps stiffen meringues, if nothing else.

Remedy for Bad Bottles

If you believe that you have a bad bottle, the merchant or restaurateur should be willing to replace the bottle. If not, take  your business elsewhere.