I do believe that the presence of TCA has diminished over the past decade for sure. One only needs to look at the Wine Spectator or other such publications that take note of percentages of corked wine experienced during their tastings.
I think the problem still exists - seems to be more from imports than domestic - as wineries have done one of two things - switched to ‘alternative’ closures including ‘technical corks’ like DIAM and others and/or if still using cork, requiring the companies they work with to test the corks.
I would also seek out a ‘knowingly corked’ wine from a friend, a retail store or a restaurant and see if you can pick it up - your sensitivity to it may have been reduced.
One other thing I continue to point out - for those of you who do experience corked wines but don’t mention it to the winery/retailer, you’re doing the industry somewhat of a ‘disservice’ because it skews numbers lower and doesn’t force the changes that have to take place. Just my $.02 on this . . .
Anecdotally I can say it has gone down significantly. I spent my early 20’s working in a few high end French Restaurants (RN74 Seattle and Bar Boulud NYC) so I tasted several bottles in an evening, and often came across wines from the 90’s and early 2000’s that were corked on a weekly basis.
In the last two years, I can only think of two corked wines that I have opened:
2016 Domaine Drouhin Pinot Noir
2021 Lapierre Morgon
I would day that I am pretty sensitive to TCA given that I have tasted it enough times. So that would be 2 bottles out of a few hundred bottles tasted over the last 2 years where I picked up TCA, so less than 1% for me.
Granted my cellar is pretty young, so I rarely drink anything pre 2009.
The first thing I noticed on the 2020 Duplessis Montmains was grass.
2020 Caves Duplessis Chablis 1er Cru Montmains - France, Burgundy, Chablis, Chablis 1er Cru (8/1/2023)
Immediately greeted with grassiness with a slight veggie backing. Some lemon and saffron along with rocky minerality. Hints of honeydew and honey distract a bit but that greenness is here on the palate, too. The acid doesn't really provide real lift but its adequate. There is again some minerality here. While not a classic Chablis with that grass this work fine as a dinner wine. Of course it is a disappointment and I can't say I'm excited to see where it could go from here.
Had another corked wine last night. This 2012 Gallet Côte-Rôtie… I felt like I have had terrible luck with TCA in 2023, so i went through my wines tasted and I had 8(!) corked bottles out of 97. Insane bad luck in 2023. No patterns, different producers and both new and older bottles.
Big +1. At least 1/2 the time I can call a corked bottle at home just by the feel of the corkscrew going into the cork. This is on young bottles <10yrs.
Never thought of that or know if it is actually a thing, but my Gallet last night certainly had a rather soft cork (it was not soaked at all). Maybe just a coincidence
Well not in my cases, I’m referring to corks with a perfectly new appearance and I know the difference between oxidation and TCA. Two completely different animals.
Agree - there is no correlation between the appearance of the cork and the wine being “corked.” It is a common misconception and many people don’t seem to understand that cork taint is not something you see but rather something you smell mostly and taste (or at least the lack thereof).
I have always found a wet paper-bag smell that dominates the wines if they’re corked. Other ways that I have found wines that are corked behave (before the wet paper-bag smell shows up) is that everything is dialed down, muted in scent and sometimes flavor. I hope this helps, another idea would be to walk into a small wine shop & ask if they have any corked wines so that you could smell and detect the scent. When I worked in a small wine shop, sometimes we’d keep a corked bottle around for a week or two so that we could share with some that were curious.
Yeah. I’ve worked on this a bit. All things being equal, a spongy/soaked cork has a higher chance of being badly TCA-tainted. It’s simply due to the higher total volume of the cork that is in contact with the wine. And some “guaranteed TCA-free” corks (I’m talking whole plugs here, not aggloms like Diam) may indeed be clean in their outer portion but not in their interior. So, if the wine is able to migrate into the cork it could be tainted in a case where, if the cork had maintained its integrity better, the wine would have been ok, at least for longer.
You can get a non-detectable TCA level in a whole cork but a detectable TCA level if that cork is then cut up and resoaked.
Of course, a bad cork is a bad cork, and significant wine infiltration is not a requirement for taint, it just increases your chances.
