Every now and again I will encounter a wine which tastes off to me. There is a very distinct taste, exactly the same each time. I associate it with wet plaster or cement. There are two other odd qualities. First, my wife often can’t tell there is a problem (actually quite useful if there’s a bottle to be drunk!). Second, the other flavors will still often come out clearly and develop. For example, the other night I had a bottle of 2013 Substance Merlot. This is one that always takes ages to get going but is delicious with a couple of hours of air. I was paying very little attention to the wine early on, sipping a little with food and not expecting anything from it so soon after opening. However, as it was open longer I became very frustrated because, as I continued to taste, I could tell the wine was really coming into it’s own, despite being undermined by the taint.
Is this “corked”? Am I one of those with a higher sensitivity to TCA? I keep reading about damp cardboard but I’m really not getting that. Diagnosing this is driving me nuts!
I would agree your issue does not sound like TCA. It’s a tough call given what you’ve written. The first thing that jumps out in my mind is something I usually notice as a smell first. It’s caused by some sort of detergent leftover or similar from machine washing stemware. I think some machines leave a residue that I sometimes notice. People around me rarely notice it even when I bring it up but it really bothers me when it’s there. Do you machine wash your stems?
That’s interesting. I do typically machine wash my stems and I can try substituting the glass the next time this occurs. I still think it’s likely the wine itself though.
I would agree, there is a residue that is frequently left by machine washing glasses. I notice it, because you can actually feel as you buff away some of the residue. It’s important to remember that glass is not smooth under the microscopic lens. Running the dishwasher a second time with nothing in it but the glasses can help minimize this too.
I could imagine perceiving TCA as wet plaster or concrete.
There is a wide, wide range of sensitivity/insensitivity to TCA, as there is to many aroma compounds. So it’s easy to imagine your wife might not pick it up.
Wet plaster/cement isn’t how I normally smell dishwasher residue. That normally smells more like sweaty socks for me. Maybe I need to clean my dishwasher…
Jim, In some wines I get what I describe as “play dough” or “plastic like” note that when present detracts from what otherwise is a good bottle of wine. Those notes I described is the oak treatment sticking out. Any chance that your descriptors and mine are similar. Just a thought.
Do you have any experienced wine friends who could try one of the bottles that seem off to you to confirm it, next time it happens? Or can you some time open a second bottle of the same wine to see if the next one tastes normal?
Another slight possibility is that it’s something you ate or drank earlier that day. I have this weird rare condition, but a very consistent one, where if I have some frozen dessert that day (doesn’t even have to be dairy — ice cream, sorbet, frozen yogurt), wine tastes metallic and unpleasant the rest of that day.
I do wonder if it is TCA and that my “wet concrete/plaster” is somebody else’s “wet cardboard”. My reservation with this is that I had thought it would undermine other flavors in the wine, not just sit beside them. Fortunately, this doesn’t happen very often. Next time I’ll start by trying another pour from the same bottle into a fresh glass. If that doesn’t solve it I’ll recork the bottle and pour some of the remaining for someone I trust from my local wine store.
On Chris’s suggestion to open a second bottle I typically buy wines in small clusters and have never come across an example of the same issue twice in the same group of wines. On the potential tie-in to a frozen dessert I think my eating habits make this fairly unlikely but I’ll keep alert for a connection.
On Tom’s suggestion about oak treatment I don’t think it’s that as this is a very well defined and similar characteristic each time. On the dishwasher idea I think there is an associational taste that could tie into the chalkiness of a tablet so again will keep an eye out there too.
It’s not really “wet cardboard”, per se. It’s that cardboard left outside can get wet and develop TCA. Common enough to make the association to some wet cardboard people have smelled - a particularly impactful aroma.
The best way to get a handle on these things to to taste alongside other experienced tasters, so you can talk about the weird issues that come up. (Bring grains of salt, though. It’s very common for people to hold onto wrong assumptions for decades.)
I’ve heard of TCA tainted cardboard wine shippers, but haven’t experienced that myself. There are however at least 2 wooden retaining walls I bike ride past regularly that absolutely reek of TCA.