If your host orders an expensive bottle of wine, and it’s clearly corked…

He has tasted it and nodded his head in appreciation, so do you say something?

I always do, but a lot of people wish I wouldn’t.

Even if clearly and horribly corked, I generally say something like “seems like a great wine, but I seem to get a little musty note- do you think this might be corked?”

It is going to depend on how well I know the host and the situation. I remember a situation when I was younger where there 6 or 8 of us, no spouses, and one of the wines was noticeably corked. I called it out as such only to have the host tell me that this is what it is supposed to taste like. Today, in a similar situation, I’d be more likely to just say that this wine isn’t to my liking and order something BTG so the others can enjoy the bottle. If I am good friends with the host and it’s just the two (or four) of us, then I will point out that I think it’s flawed.

I am with Brian on this. It all depends on how well I know the host and how formal the setting is. The less of the former and more of the latter the softer my touch would be. If it’s a formal work event if just say “this wine isn’t for my pallet”, and order something else. If I’m with family, “yo, this is corked to shit, send it back”. YMMV

Yep, depends. (Almost?) always in a wine geek situation, sometimes not in others.

Even in wine geek situations, though, the message doesn’t always sink in. I was at an “everybody bring a bottle” wine dinner and the '86 GL, a wine I love, was corked but the guy who brought it (with a significant Bdx cellar and expertise) just couldn’t detect it or admit it. When he gave his summation of his favorite wines at the end of the night he said something like “and the GL may have had a little musty note at first, but it blew off and the wine was great” (it didn’t, and it wasn’t - I checked). Then there was the time we were tasting at a well-known CA winery and Wes Barton pronounced the sample bottle corked. None of the rest of us picked it up, including the tour guide/tasting room host, but Wes finally convinced her and of course we all knew he was right as soon as we smelled the replacement bottle.

Then there are the non-wine-geek situations where I supply the wine and others are loving it, and it’s corked. Do I tell them they’re enjoying a corked wine? Again, it depends, but if I know them well enough to be supplying the wine, I usually know them well enough to tell them it’s corked. Of course, sometimes they drink it anyway.

(Edit - I just re-read the original post and see that the question refers to “ordering” an expensive wine, which is a fairly specific scenario. I would be more likely to speak up in that case, since there’s a remedy available but only if I speak up. I suppose if I didn’t know the host at all and he or she started proclaiming that the wine is “wonderful, just as I remember it” or something extreme like that I wouldn’t, but otherwise I’m going to lean toward helping the host get a replacement bottle).

Hah! Yes, a bit similar, but some important differences. With the '86 GL, I knew better what good bottles of that exact wine “should” taste like, the corkage on the GL was much more pronounced, and of course at our dinner we all came around to recognizing it, unlike at the earlier dinner in my story. But yes, that L’Evangile - oh, boy!

Always. The other option is explaining why I said I would have wine and don’t touch it, so I just say it.

To be fair it doesn’t get much more uncomfortable than someone ITB approving a corked wine among pros.

I’d love to give an answer, but the question presumes that I know such a host

Though I have to think that I would proclaim the flaw because I’m just not that socially considerate

Yeah, I would say always, even if it’s someone who should know better, but clearly missed it. If it’s a socially sensitive situation, I usually say, “wow–that’s really a shame”. Then when folks say “what”, I say “It’s obviously a great wine, but it’s corked.” which at least gives the host kudos for choosing a good wine. As Kris said, it’s even more awkward if you don’t touch your glass, or ask for a different wine.

One thing to consider is the degree of TCA sensitivity which is dramatically different between individuals.

I read here that some people have noted as many as 10% of wine they’ve opened has been corked. I’ve had far less than 1% of wine I’ve opened corked, so I assume I’m fairly TCA insensitive.

Sarah, I don’t know if you remember this, but years ago Zachy’s did an auction at Gotham and they were pouring a 6L of something like Troplong Mondot. I got there a little late and when I sat down they poured me a glass. I took a whiff and said to the guy sitting next to me who dating someone who worked at Zachy’s at the time that it was corked and he said no, it was just a little musty. A little bit later, you came in and were seated at the same table and as soon as you took a whiff you said to the entire table “this wine is corked.” I’ve always admired your confidence to say it like it is.

To try and deal with the “you missed it” issue, I rarely if ever pronounce that it “IS” corked unless I’m approving the bottle or I brought the wine. When someone else brought it and/or approved it, I will say something more like “I think this might be a touch corked, what do you think?” and suggest the other person give it another go. We all have different levels of sensitivity, wines may show it more after a few minutes than on initial pour, the initial taster may have been less than fully focused the first time, any number of things that shouldn’t be an embarrassment.

“Could you point out all of your Stelvin selections?”

I didn’t remember that until you reminded me! I do try and be gentle, but there’s no real upside, to me, of saying nothing.

If you say something there is a chance that the bottle can be replaced or at least another wine chosen from the list if it was the last available bottle. I see zero upside to ignoring that a wine is flawed.

Yeah–“have you got anything in screw-cap?”. That’s suitably subtle.

We used to help run a charity event and the night before we had all the volunteer pourers come in for some training. I happened to have a badly corked bottle and let them smell it and several said it was good enough to drink for them. Same even we had a distributor disagree that a wine was corked until I pulled over another distributor to taste and he agreed with me. Some people just can’t detect it that well.

Actually, one other option if you are in a sensitive setting, and the wine is being poured around by a Som., is to discretely tell the som that it’s corked, which gives a good som the option of pulling an accepted but flawed bottle and bringing another. (actually, in my mind, the som should check all bottles first before presenting the wine to the host. that’'s presuming that there’s actually a som, or qualified server, at the restaurant.)