What bad luck: the wine tastes like cork! What to do?

“It tastes like cork “! How many times do you say it? Perhaps the best thing you are at the table with family and friends... even worse if it happens in sweet company. And maybe you don't have any other bottles! And maybe you paid an arm and a leg!

But who is to blame for this flaw? Some cork? No poor thing he is a small piece of cork plant. He also suffers. The fact is that unfortunately it has been infected with a microbial species that leaves no way out. Armillaria mellea, would be a nail mushroom edible only after boiling, which develops at the base of the plants or on the bark of great thickness. And here is their ability to attack the bark of cork plants. A massacre that is taking place in many Portuguese and Sardinian cork oaks. Well, once it settles on the surface of the bark, this parasite produces a compound that attaches to the wood fibers and leaves an unmistakable scent. Its name is “2,4,6-trichloroanisole”, more conventionally called TCA.

The number of corks in the world that are infected with this fungus is thought to be 1.5-2%, but the estimates may even be higher in recent years. This means that there may be the same percentage of bottles lying around to be thrown away! In France they had invented a particular resin that fixed the TCA and restored the wine to its integrity. I tried it, it was shaped like an hourglass; the “infected” wine was poured into a glass connected by a choke containing these resins, and then the wine leaked into the glass container below. In short, a slow filtration. It never arrived in Italy... resins have been considered not acceptable for food use.

So Armillaria mellea, infecting the cork on the plant, produces the TCA and the cork producer notices it only if it is found in certain concentrations. The problem is that even at concentrations not detectable at the source, the corks can then compromise the wine.

So remember... we should say it tastes like trichloroanisole! But they would all take us for crazy!
 

first thing not to do logically is to drink the bottle, not even after letting it air out! It is also a fairly common opinion that wine that tastes like a cork can be safely used for cooking since the smell should vanish thanks to the intervention of heat. This is partly true because yes, the scent may disappear after prolonged cooking, but, at the same time, it is difficult to be sure that the dish does not show any trace of the unpleasant “cork” flavor. The advice therefore is to avoid using it in the kitchen in general, especially to prepare marinades or sauces.
 

Wine that smells like cork, however, can be safely used outside the kitchen. In fact, it can be used as a “disinfectant” for fruits and vegetables: just add it to the washing water to eliminate some types of bacteria, thanks to the action of the alcohol present inside it. Specifically, white wine that smells like cork, but also the one forgotten in the fridge for too many days, can be used to clean the kitchen countertop, but also to remove stains from fabrics and, paradoxically, it also helps to remove red wine stains. Red wine, on the other hand, is an excellent fertilizer, particularly suitable for making your plants and flowers strong and lush