Wine Information

Wine Tasting?

When I go to a restaurant and the waiter pours a little drop of wine for me to approve, I always feel a bit silly as I wouldn't even be able to tell if the wine was corked. What does 'corked' mean exactly, what would it taste like? Am I tasting for corkedness or am I just seeing if I approve of the taste in general? Confused.

Public Comments

1. If you have ordered a wine you have drunk before, you will know if it doesn't taste quite right. You will usually have a musty odour with a corked wine and it can taste quite acidy. Either way, if you think the wine is not to your liking, then ask the waiter to replace it (politely of course!)
2. You are testing that the wine is OK, not to see if you like it, they show you the label to ensure it is the wine you ordered. You can tell by smelling, swish it around the glass then inhale deeply. If it was corked you'd know, it'll smell rancid.
3. Corked means too much air has got into the wine and made it go off - usually leaving a metallic aftertaste - and it would also manifest itself in white wine by making the colour of the wine darker - more orange. If the wine tastes nice to you, have it! If it doesn't, let your dinner companion have a taste and if you both don't like it maybe consider sending it back - or do the British stoical thing of not causing a fuss and struggling through!
4. IT IS USUALLY A BIT OF BOTH, THE WAITER OFFERS YOU THE WINE TO SEE IF IT MEETS YOUR APPROVAL, YOU CAN TELL IF A WINE IS CORKED,BY THE TASTE,IT HAS A VINEGARY TASTE TO IT,ALSO SOMETIMES THERE MIGHT BE BITS OF CORK FLOATING IN IT, IN THESE CASES YOU SHOULD SEND IT BACK.
5. If you have ordered a specific bottle of wine from a wine list then you will be offered a taste first. If you order the house wine then you may be offered a taste first. These are two different scenarios. In the first instance, you are stating your knowledge of wine and are therefore being given the opportunity to test that the wine is up to scratch. In the second instance, you are being offered a taste of a suggested wine by the house. If you do not like it, it will probably be OK to refuse the bottle as it can be passed on to the next customer in a carafe. Generally, if you are offerred to taste a wine first, taste it confidently. Sniff it first, roll it around in the glass and then take another sniff. Then when taking the first taste suck it from the glass and make some bubble noises so that it gets aerated and spreads all over your pallate. If it smells mouldy/yeasty, then you might want to suggest that another bottle is opened. If it tastes really bad, and you know what it should taste like, then reject it. If it tastes really bad, and you have ordered a wine you do not know, then just accept it as bad luck unless the waiter is prepared to swap it for another label. (which I doubt) Personally, I drink wine which is two months old and this can smell a little bit yeasty and can look a bit cloudy. However, the taste is good and this compensates for a slight off smell.
6. You dont need to understand what Corked means. The waiter is giving you a chance to say "yes the wine tastes ok or no it dosent" Go by what you taste for that is what restaurants are about, Have a sip of the wine and if it tastes ok then swig away. Happy slurping
7. Corked is when the bottle was open already for a while before you got it. For example if someone was having just a glass of wine they could take it from a bottle and refill it. It would taste sour and gone off it was corked, It would probably make you ill drinking it.
8. The term "corked" is referring to the organism TCP. Since cork is a natural product then on occasion it affects the wine. Often cork producers make the corks too quickly and the cork is not cured. TCP lives in the cork and infects the wine giving it a musty, mould type of smell. Similar to a wet towel thats been left too lond on the floor. Tasting it won't make you sick but you will find the wine flat on your palate and jsut plain ordinary. The scsry thing is that people get used to the taste and don't want to send it back. Almost 4 out of every case of twelve wines will be corked. Bring on the screwcap!!!
9. Trust me, you'd know if the wine was "corked". As you've been told, the wine will have a musty odor and taste. Smelling the cork is the best way to determine this without having to taste and spoiled wine. Most restaurants make sure the bottle is not corked before serving. The taste you recieve is just to see if the wine is to your liking. You can acceppt it or reject it, it doesn't have to be corked to send it back!
10. Ok....I need to say something. To all of you who have said that it's ok to send back a wine if it's "not to your liking". You are wrong!! You can not send back a wine just because you don't like it. You are purchasing an item that once opened is yours. The restaurant cannot simply put it back on the shelf. 90% of the bottles on the menu are sold by bottle only, so if you don't like it and try to sent it back they are taking a loss for however much that bottle costs them. Now if it's "corked", that's a different story. They can actually return the bottle to their distributer and get their money back. But what are they (the restaurant) going to say to their distributor if you send back a bottle that just doesn't fancy you? Nothing, it's a lame excuse. Next time, when you buy a bottle off the menu, know something about the grape varietal or the vineyard. As far as corked bottles go, you don't even need to taste the wine. It will be a dead give away by either the smell of the wine, or you can ask to smell the cork itself. But stop thinking that you're simply ackowledging to the waiter that you like the wine enough to drink the whole bottle. You are wrong and should not be ordering wine to begin with if you do not know what you're doing.