🍷 Wine faults

Wine faults are unpleasant smells and tastes that arise from mistakes, bacteria or poor storage. They differ from ordinary differences in taste: it is not a matter of preference but of spoilage.

The best-known faults are these. Cork taint comes from an infected cork: the wine smells of wet cardboard or a cellar. Oxidation happens when too much air gets into the wine: it darkens and smells of apples or nuts. Volatile acidity gives a smell of vinegar. Brett, or Brettanomyces, is a yeast that gives a smell of stable or sticking plaster.

Some faults are not dangerous to health but spoil the pleasure. For example, wine with cork taint is not harmful, just unpleasant. In a restaurant one can ask to have such a bottle replaced.

To avoid faults, winemakers watch cleanliness, temperature and sulphites. At home wine should be stored lying down in a cool, dark place. A slight degree of some faults is even considered part of a wine's character, but a strong one makes it undrinkable.