TCA help

So here’s my problem (out of many): I seem to be extremely NOT-sensitive to TCA.

I was at Leo Frokic’s house on Saturday night with a bevy of Burgs (plus a couple of random bottles) open on the table. The bottle I brought, 96 A. & F. Gros Vosne-Romanee Aux Reas, looked a little cloudy in the glass and I got some funky/stewed aromas which to me made it seem more off/dead/cooked. Nonetheless, most everyone else got “corked” right off the bat. Much as I tried, I didn’t get the damp, moldy cardboard aromas at any point.

What can I do to sharpen my perception more?

Tough call here. One thing I notice is that if you think its a maybe, give it 20-30 minutes and the palate will turn to nothing but acid and tannins.

You can also try and clean a ton of stuff with bleach and notice the aromas. When I started getting into wine and people would point out the TCA aromas they always seemed familiar. I remembered very similar smells from behind the bar and in the store rooms at the restaurant I worked at after things had been cleaned using stuff with bleach in it.

Seems to me that people use “corked” for any obviously damaged wine…though the musty, old/wet/moldy cardboard aroma isn’t the only expression of TCA.

I’ve seen/heard many, many people not used to drinking old wines immediately dismiss a just opened bottle as being corked when all it was was initial bottle age “stink” which blows off in a few minutes. Same goes with some people (usually those whose default settings are stuck on “huge ripe fruit forward”) who say “the fruit is gone/dead” when tasting, say, a typically austere St Estèphe.

As to your question, the only way to sharpen one’s sensitivity to a certain flaw is to actually have enough experience with them to recognize them immediately. I wouldn’t wish that on any friend though.

LMD - Cris and I have PLENTY of stories about funk on great wines being termed ‘corked’…even after it blew off…

Whore-hay - Justin Wells gave me a tip on how to identify it, and assure it’s not just some sort of funk or odd smell that was built up from a bit of bad air in the bottle or whatever. Keep the glass perfectly still for 5-10 minutes, don’t swirl it, and just take a big sniff. If you get the musty/moldy/wet cardboard without swishing all that wine around, it’s confirmed. Also, you’ll typically find that while the fruit is there, it’s a bit overly-sweet, and a very abrupt bitter finish that goes even sweeter.

That, and lay off the cocaine.

Care to share some of those stories?

Grassy ass man; but impossible, that’d be like me to tell you to lay off the horse-steroids.

every other person (sans me) at the offline said the wine was corked except for Cris and TOdd. THen one person next week had the same exact wine and had a completely different wine profile to further believe that it was corked.

Any link on notes from this offline? I am interested to read the notes.

Shows what you know. They are cow steroids - hBT’s, baby.

’
If “every other person” constitutes you and Brian then you might be correct.

There was a very nice bottle of 97 Dominus that didn’t smell like a berry Frappucino so it was proclaimed corked. It had those awful cedary leathery notes ya know.

It was '97 Dominus - one of very few great wines I’ve had multiple bottles of. It was not corked, not at all, not even slightly, not even close.

To those who drink bombastic fruity 18% abv inky black fruit bomb CA syrahs exclusively, and their CA pinot counterparts, any amount of funk is considered ‘corked’. That beautiful brett to them is corked.

Fine with me, because it meant I got a slightly larger pour.

Don’t forget Reanna and her friend with the HUGE cellar, plus Reanna’s sugar daddy. They righteously proclaimed it corked as well!

They know, Cris. They know.

Was that the Reanna who was so sure the 02 Oak Bomb Cab was the 97 Dominus?

That’s the one!

This is sort of a version of Todd’s advice above.

I’m not particularlly sensitive to TCA either, but one bit of advice that’s helped me is this: don’t immediately swirl your initial pour; rather, pour a small amount of wine and let it sit undisturbed for a moment, then sniff. If corked, the musty smells will predominate and will not be competing with any wine aromas that would have been released by swirling.

I think this is a good way to isolate the smell of TCA from other aromas - funky or otherwise - that might be part of the wine itself.

Thank you Steve. Eloquently stated without having to bring up my “pecadillos”.

i agree completely, it is like a pre-shot routine in golf - every shot, every new wine!

smell the empty stem! if there is a funk ask for a replacement and smell that. when you get a pour for inspection let it sit 20-30 seconds and then pick up the stem and smell with NO SWIRL. ponder that for a 15 seconds or so and then taste. if corked wine is in question repeat process giving the new pour time to sit and a real chance to just blow off the off-note.

still unsure ask for help from the somme.

Amusing. Horrifying, but amusing.

i was the only one who didn’t give an opinion!

just to add on to it: I told the story about how my two friends who are ITB insisted my 01 dominus was corked, but that’s just how dominus with some age smells. I remember that being my explanation on why I didn’t have an opinion on it being corked or not corked.

I have SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO many bottles. I have like THOUSANDS. My favorite bordeaux is ____(insert highly manipulated bordeaux). OHHH I DRINK THISSSSSSSSSSS SOOOOO often. . I’m not even sure how you guys sat there for so long. You guys were definitely at the “highly intoxicated” table. Bet they had their town cars to come take them away =P