5 Tips for Identifying Faulty Wine [WINE 101]

Most people try a wine and either say ‘yum yum’ or ‘it’s yuck and I can’t drink it’. Below are a few points to help you if you come across the latter. Sometimes a wine is actually faulty, and it’s not just that you don’t like it. So if you can identify the fault, you can then ask the waiter for another bottle, or return the faulty one to the place you bought it and they will replace it.

Real Time Wine & WineStyle present: 5 Tips for Identifying Faulty Wine.

1. Cork
Many people think a corked wine is one that contains bits of cork. This is not the case. The culprit is a type of fungi that occurs naturally in cork and that affects wine. It could suppress the fruit flavours, something that is easily overlooked, or it may result in cardboardy, musty, dank aromas and flavours, rendering the wine unpleasant to drink.
 
2. Oxidation
Wine oxidises when it has absorbed oxygen. Oxidised white wine smells like honey, cider or in extreme cases like sherry, while reds get a vinegary smell. Most oxidised wine has a brown tint to the colour.
 
3. Over the hill
If a wine has been left to age for too long and is past its prime, it is said to be over the hill. At this stage, red wine turns slightly brown and starts smelling like old port without any fruit aromas. White wines start turning dark yellow and begin to smell like tinned peas or cooked vegetables.
 
4. Volatile
A volatile wine is a seriously flawed wine. Acetic bacteria can spoil a wine during production or it may be from excessive oxidation. The wine smells like vinegar or nail polish remover.
 
5. Brett
Brettanomyces – Brett for short – is a yeast infection on grapes in vineyards and cellars, mostly from old barrels that contaminate wine. Affected wines are said to have a Brett profile – farmyardy, horsey, sometimes metallic – and are generally unpleasant, although some people like it when the character is not too dominating.

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The Wine 101 series is a collaboration between Real Time Wine and WineStyle Magazine. Content originally produced by WineStyle. Subscribe to their great newsletter and wine deals here. And whatever wine you're drinking, it's better to share it with your friends using Real Time Wine, the wine app for everyone who enjoys wine, not just those who understand it!