TCA smell from unopened bottle

So question, I got a recent shipment and the box reeked of TCA. I wiped down all the bottles with cheap vodka, and I isolated the smell to 2 bottles, 1 of which is $300 GC burgundy. What should I do? Its obvious the smell is from the top of the bottle/cork. Should I contact the merchant for an unopened bottle? How likely is this to be the entire cork? If this was a cheaper bottle, I’d say whatever and just store it, but $300 is pretty much as expensive as I go with burgs. Should I pobega it and if I confirm the corkage, contact the seller?

Might just be must from damp cellar.

I’ve gotten cases, both in wood and cardboard, that stank up and down of TCA. The wine inside was not affected.

I’d wipe the bad bottles with hydrogen peroxide and see if that clears up the smell. Whether it does or not, I’d contact the merchant and ask what they recommend. The outcome I’d hope for is for them to take a possibly affected bottle back and open it themselves. Plus, replace any of yours that are questionable.
Send them a piece of the box if the TCA is obvious in the wood/cardboard.

P Hickner

A dangerous problem. Send me the expensive burgundy so I can test for TCA post haste. Will let you know the results.

Same here. It was so bad that my arms smelled of TCA all day just from handling the boxes. But the wine was fine.

Just one example though.

I had a similar issue with WTSO in Sept. on order of 3-Notre Vin Howell Mountain Cabernet Sauvignon 2010 by Denis Malbec.
I believe it was the cardboard inserts. I did notify them & received a response.

Well nothing seems to help. So 1 affected bottle is a Bonnes Mares, and 1 is a passetoutgrain. I think I’ll open the PtG tomorrow and then make a decision on the Bonnes Mares.

From what you did, it does sound like the corks are contaminated. It’s certainly possible to have the top of the cork reek to high heaven with the part in contact with the wine being fine, but I’d think the odds are very much against that.

I’d wonder what the hell is wrong with that merchant, since that smell wouldn’t have just magically appeared after they shipped it.

Something similar happened to me once. I tried to clean the bottles with alcohol and could remove the smell to a large extent, but not completely. I think it was the styro-box which was responsible for it. So I contacted the seller and after some exchanges we agreed that I would open a bottle and let him know how the wine was. If it was affected he would have taken all bottles back. But it wasn’t. Was a great wine instead (G. Barthod Les Fuees 2002 - not quite 300$ GC, but close).

This is a bit harsh for me. I would say that there have been many…many times that i’ve opened bottles where pulling the cork I smelled TCA immediately and the cork reeked of it…only to have a wine that was actually beautiful and unaffected. However, in this case with a $300 Burg on the line…I’d contact the seller and ask them to exchange the wine for another bottle of the same wine.

Chris is right. Every bottle from my passive storage come out like this. It’s simply the damp from a high humidity cellar (likely passive). I’ve brought many bottles to events where someone thinks the bottle will be a problem because of the smell of the bottle/capsule and outer cork. Wine is always fine.

• edit - sorry, my assuming these are past vintage wines. If new release, disregard.

Buddy of mine brought an older Guigal La La to a tasting years back. The bottle reeked of TCA. Wine was fine.

I hear tourists say often: “Chinatown in every city smells awful. Why would anybody eat there?”
Of course, nobody would talk similarly about French food and wine.

You think it’s okay for a retailer to knowingly ship wine that reeks of TCA without saying anything to the customer? Seems like a good recipe for chasing away regular/repeat customers.

This is very interesting. I would say this, even if the wine is fine, keep in mind you are possibly now introducing TCA into your personal cellar by keeping the bottles there.

This is 2014 wine, bought as pre-release, just arrived and shipped.

I’ll add my one datapoint: a cardboard shipper that reeked of TCA but none of the bottles were affected. Different from Eric’s situation where the top of 2 bottles seem to be the source.

I like the idea of opening the less expensive bottle. But it’s at least theoretically possible that one bottle might have TCA externally only while the other has it in the wine.

I wouldn’t take a chance on a $300 bottle without a prior agreement with the seller to take it back if the wine is ruined. Absent that, I’d return the unopened bottle for a replacement or credit.

I brought a bottle of 1999 Lafarge Volnay Clos de Chenes home from France. It smelled so badly of tca that it was almost unbearable to open my home wine fridge. I opened the wine sooner than I should have, just to get rid of the bottle. The wine inside was pristine.

I done heard tale of wineries receiving whole palates of new glass where all the boxes are corked. Cut open the plastic sheeting and it just reeks.

I’m saying that the people working in the warehouse may not know what TCA is or what it smells like…assuming that everyone knows and understands TCA that works at a wine store or in the process of the chain in how the wines get to you is expecting a lot. I worked at 3 different wine stores and multiple wine-centric restaurants almost across the board…I was the only one, or one of few other than the owner that was really into wine…or that understood wine & TCA.