Top 5 Wine Myths That Won't Die

2. Corked Wine

“One can judge if a wine is ‘corked’ by smelling the cork” – this belief is said to be another myth and Elliott says “corked wine is spoiled by the cork but it doesn't really smell like cork.” A slight wine tinge with a woody smell will be there on a good cork and it is nearly indistinguishable from a cork that spoiled a bottle.  Wine is corked by a bacteria called 2,4,6-trichloroanisole (TCA) which is transmitted to the wine by infected corks. “But the wine itself doesn't smell a lot like cork, more like wet newspaper or damp basement, and you certainly can't tell anything from smelling the cork,” he says. The sole information a cork can provide is to confirm the brand of the producer, vintage year and assure that the wine is not dried out indicating poor storage.