What causes cork to slide out VERY easily?

Wine 101: The Basics
1

I opened a bottle last night (2006 J Wine Nicole’s Vineyard Pinot Noir) and the cork slid out with little to no effort using an Ah-So. The easiest sliding cork I’ve seen. The cork showed streaks of wine running up the side about 80% to the top.

At the time I did not catch that the bottle was flawed as the fruit was somewhat masking it and the wine was VERY chilled. 24hrs later it’s all wet basement and cardboard. My question is, are these two things related? I would imagine if the cork was bad and allowed air in I would get more oxidation flavoring, not the damp basement and cardboard flavors.

2

I think you’re right that the ease of extraction and taint are not related.

3

paraffin or silicone-coated. Not related to TCA or cork taint.
alan

4

All corks have paraffin / silicone coating. There are many variables that can make extraction easier or harder. I’ll name a few -

  • Excessive silicone on cork
  • positive pressure in the bottle (because bottler didn’t use vacuum during bottling)
  • glass that is out of spec (happens a lot - glass dimensions are very hard to control)
5

I have had shriveled corks practically slide out. Often seems to happen with older bottles stored in warmish condition in my case. The cork stem is shriveled and thinner than normal.

6

It might be just me but 90% or more of the time when I have a spongy soft cork with lttle resistance coming out I end up with TCA tainted wine.

7

Apologies if this takes the thread in a tangent, but I noticed that you mention that you removed the cork with an Ah-So. Do you use this for all bottles you open or only those that are more than x years old? I’m thinking of getting one but I don’t have many bottles more than 20 years old so not sure if I should.

8

I use an ah-so (Durand) on every bottle of wine that I feel may have a crumbly cork or a cork that will partially extract. Generally anything 10yrs or older to be safe. In the event that a cork breaks without it I use the worm of the Durand to remove the small end still stuck in the bottle as the worm is very sharp and thin and pierces the cork without pushing it further into the bottle.