Put a cork in it

Hopefully you never have a wine bottle go bad due to cork taint. For the casual drinker, you may not hit a tainted bottle for a long stretch, but it does occur at a rate of about 5%. Through the tastings that I hold with the South World Wine Society, it is not out of the ordinary to have 1 or 2 bottles corked. The SWWS usually opens 27 bottles of wine during one tasting. 5% * 27 bottles = 1.35 potentially corked bottles. So we are holding to the cork taint average.
How can you tell that a bottle has cork taint? Unless you know what the wine should taste like ahead of time (e.g. it's your favorite wine and you know how it should taste), or you recognize the smell of cork taint, you may think that the bottle was just not very tasty, or the wine critic that praised that wine doesn't know what they are talking about. The problem with cork taint, is that there are different levels of taint. A very slight taint is the hardest to detect and usually just is represented by a flatness in the fruit flavour and aroma. With more cork taint, along with the reduced fruit flavour and aroma, you may smell wet cardboard or freshly dug potatoes.

Cork manufacturers have been trying to produce better cork with fewer defects, but there are still rivals to traditional corks, being synthetic (plastic) corks and the stelvin closure. In a previous blog post I talked about an alternative to cork, which is the stelvin closure. You may want to check it out.

But many people love the romance that goes along with opening a bottle that has a natural cork in it. Not all of these corks are created equal. In the photo in my blog, there are 4 examples of cork. From left to right, you have a high quality single piece natural cork, next a lesser quality single piece natural cork, next an agglomerated cork sandwiched between two pieces of natural cork, and the last is an agglomerated cork.

You will also notice difference in length. Longer tends to be better for corks, as there is more separation between the wine and the air outside of the bottle. The agglomerated corks are basically bits of cork that fall off or break off in the cork making process. These bits of cork are broken down into pieces of about the same size then glued together. These corks do not look very nice, but get the job done. Some winemakers go for the agglomerated cork sandwiched with slices of real cork. The Mission Hill cork in the photo has a real slice of cork about half way through the M in Mission and then at the last L in Hill. Some people prefer this cork over the simple agglomerated cork, as there is a real piece of cork in contact with their wine as it ages as opposed to wine + glue. Finally you have the single piece of cork. This is the ultimate goal for many winemakers. The better cork would have the least amount of holes/pits visible in the cork. The Pisano cork has more holes/pits visible on the cork, which could be housing cork taint, or could let too much air interact with the wine, making it age quickly. The longer Montes Purple Angel cork (leftmost cork) is an example of a high quality single piece cork. You do not see lots of small holes along the sides of the cork.

Well now you know a bit more about cork and about cork taint. The next time you open a bottle of your favorite wine, check out what type of cork they are using. If you wine smells off, as described above, and you are in a restaurant, please don't hesitate to talk to your server and ask for them to confirm with you that the wine is corked. If it si, they should give you a replacement bottle at no additional charge. It's your money and enjoyment. Cheers!

Chile Day 9 - Montgras and Montes

Chile day 9 – Today was my M&M day. That is Montgras and Montes. Two premium wineries located in the Colchagua Valley in Chile. In the morning I met with Mr. Santiago Margozzini from Montgras. He led me through a tasting of their wines as well as drove me through part of their Ninquen vineyards. Most of their vines are located in the Colchagua valley, but they also have some vineyards in the Leyda and the Maipo Valley. Many of the wines I tasted I do not think are in BC yet, but may soon arrive. To keep the blog short, i'll keep my notes to one white and one red for each winery, with my full tasting notes to come when I'm back in Vancouver. From Leyda, I tried a Sauvignon Blanc and a Chardonnay. The Amaral Sauvignon Blanc 2009 is 100% stainless steel fermented. They tried to minimize oxygen content with the grapes using dry ice. The wine was only bottled one month ago, and I think i am one of the first few non Chileans to try this vintage. The wine has lots of lemon, lime and grapefruit aromas with a slight hint of greenness. On the palate it had high acidity, with more lemon, lime and grapefruit flavours. And a very long length. I tried 7 reds with Montgras. All but one came from the Colchagua Valley. The MontGras Reserva Cabernet Sauvignon 2008 was deep garnet in the glass. Vanilla, black fruit, black cherries, cassis and tarry aromas. It had lots of fruitiness on the palate, with flavours of black cherry, vanilla, cloves, and chocolate. The tannins were soft but still provided a dry finish.

The afternoon I dedicated to the Montes winery, and wine maker Mr. Aurelio Montes Jr. I had met Aurelio in Vancouver during the Wines of Chile events in September and arranged to meet him at the winery in October. Aurelio first drove me around the vineyard, pointing out the differences within the vineyard topography and how that influenced the varieties planted and how the vines were planted (e.g. training the vines, and vine density). After we toured the winery, then onto tasting his wines. Again keeping brevity, i'll only review one white and one red wine for the blog, with more to come. For the white wine, I tried the Montes Sauvignon Blanc Limited Selection 2009 from the Leyda Valley (FYI, i'm starting to really enjoy Leyda Sauv Blancs more than from other parts of Chile). This one had citrus, nettles, herbal and green chile aromas. On the palate the wine had citrus, and green chile pepper flavours. Light in body but long length. Pair with some seafood. I tried 7 red wines, but the one I will talk about is the Montes Alpha Carmenere 2007. This wine was deep purple in the glass. Capsicum, back fruit and vanilla aromas. On the palate I taste red and black cherries, vanilla and a slight hint of capsicum. This wine had a soft, round mouth feel and a long length. Pair carmenere with spicy Thai, Mexican or Indian food. I can't wait to try this back in Vancouver.

Thanks to both Santiago and Aurelio for showing me their vineyards and fine wines. Saludos!