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Today's winemaking methods mean that even the most
basic, inexpensive wine can be perfectly enjoyable, and ideal for
everyday drinking. Some wines, however, are really special and here we
look at how wine enthusiasts identify these. We also look at how to
recognize if a wine is damaged or faulty.
What is Good Wine?
The first point to consider is that taste is always
subjective. The professionals define a good wine as having the following
characters:
- It has balanced flavour and texture.
- It has good length (the flavour lingers in your
mouth)
- It has complexity (it reveals many flavours)
What is Bad Wine?
A "bad" wine usually refers to a wine that has
been damaged, is faulty or has been manufactured poorly. Recognising a
damaged or faulty bottle can be difficult, especially if you are
unfamiliar with the wine. You need to look at, smell and taste the wine
to assess it fully. Here are some of the common wine faults:
| 1. Corked Wine |
- This is the most common fault found in wine, and is caused
by fungus-affected cork coming into contact with the wine at
the bottling stage of the winemaking process.
- The fungus called "thrichloroanisole" (TCA),
caused the wine to take on musty aroma - the smell is very
similar to that of damp or wet cardboard.
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| 2. Oxidation |
- "Oxidised" is a generic description for wine
faults resulting from absorbing excess oxygen, usually the
result of poor storage (too warm) or leaky corks.
- All wines lose freshness, smelling progressively flat and
stale, with bruised-apple and fino-sherry-like smells in
whites, bitter-sweet, caramely odours in red.
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| 3. Sulfur Faults |
- "Reduced" sulphur combines with hydrogen
produces unpleasant smells of bad eggs or burning rubber. In
a mild form bottle stink, aeration will sometimes remove it.
- In the extreme form, it produces smelling of garlic, onion
and sewage. There is nothing you can do about it then.
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IDENTIFYING FAULTS Some of the worst faults are
evident only when you smell and/or taste the wine. Some of the faults we
see are not faults at all, and when removed, leave the wine perfectly
drinkable. Pieces of cork in the wine (top), crystal deposits on a cork
(middle), or in the wine (bottom) are not the sign of faulty wine.
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