Maybe it is shifting from a conversation that is along the lines of, “I think your wine is corked/bad” – as that focuses in part on the other individual. Instead one could say things along the lines of, “Are you as frustrated as I am at the incidence of TCA/corked wines as I am? I have had more than I would care to admit that have been corked which is incredibly frustrating. Some I bought years ago and stored perfectly, only to find that they were already flawed even before I bought them.” Or something along those lines.
I’m not talking about you or me. Just a fact, not an opinion. People who don’t have the receptor to detect TCA cannot tell the difference, because there is none to them. The fruit does not seem muted because there is no input into their brain triggering that response.
It’s funny how entrenched some people insist on becoming in their own ignorance.
Luckily, in my wine circles, so many wines are opened and there’s so much intermingling, that flawed bottles are just seen as something that happens. We try to introduce new winos to that. Bad bottles happen. Preferences vary, so there’s nothing you’re “supposed to” like and it’s okay to not like any wine. There’s no accusatory “I think you’re wine is corked.” It’s more like “Crap! I think this is corked.”
Wes, it is not accusatory in my case, it is a statement of fact. My friend does not perceive TCA, he calls it earthy. I realize everyone’s tolerance is different, but he is 100% clueless and that is fine by him.
Michael, your original description fits precisely with a good friend of mind. Same experience level and a boisterous alpha-dog emphatically telling everyone exactly how each wine tastes. Early in my wine experience, I somewhat deferred to him, but was confused because some wines just didn’t match up to what he wanted them to be (of course, usually his). But, after some experience, I now just tell him we’re going to have to disagree and if the wine is bad (corked or whatever), he can just have my share at a tasting.
I remember one tasting where he and one other alpha-dog were passing around a mag of a Barolo with an excellent pedigree (don’t remember the exact wine). It didn’t even need to touch my lips to tell it was horribly corked. Everyone at my table agreed and we told them the unfortunate conclusion. Our opinions were all dismissed and they continued on to other tables. We all dumped and rinsed our glasses and kind of felt sorry for them. No one was looking for an argument, but no way were we drinking that mess.
Playing devil’s advocate a bit here, you can also see in this thread how there can be some quasi-religious zeal and some smugness in pronouncing a wine to be corked, and prevailing in the argument about it.
If you think a wine is slightly corked and your friend does not, is there any need to insist on being right about it? Should it matter to you if your friend continues to drink and to enjoy it?
Again, just kind of looking at the same issue from the other side.
Even when I’m convinced that a wine is corked, I never announce it as so. Invariably I’ll ask someone who is in close proximity to me to see what they think. And that usually begins a concensus that it is affected.
That has always been my approach. I usually ask someone else what they think, say that I think it might be corked and not sure – and if the consensus is that it isn’t then I don’t push the point (though I have never been present for a strong disagreement on this as the OP recounts).
My wine friends don’t get offended if someone calls their bottle is corked. Over the years I have met a few guys who are not sensitive to TCA, Brett, VA and oxidative notes yet have extremely strong opinion on their stylistic preferences.
In my experience, tasting with multiple groups, there’s rarely 100% agreement a wine is corked. It has to be really bad. You also see the transition, as the tell tales signs can be hidden under more dominant characteristics, then become more and more assertive over time. I’m more sensitive than most, but others are much more sensitive than me. I also know other issues can show similarly, so it’s not always clear - at first, at least. So, I can be the first to declare a wine might be corked and the last to be certain about it, like with a wine I brought to an OL earlier this year.
A lot of people will continue to taste and analyze a wine they know is corked, to get an idea of what the wine should be like. No problem. (But, for me, it can impart a lingering musty taste that lasts for hours, so I try to avoid sipping such wines.)
We have a good sense of humor. If we have a corked wine when one of our friends who can’t detect it is there, it’s sort of “Here ya go, Timmy! All for you.” Often enough that’s with a(n otherwise) great wine. A third of a bottle left of the best wine on the table, and no one else wants it… Oh, the suffering!