© 1996 JDM Enterprises
MOSTLY Q&Aby Jerry D. MeadThis column is in its third decade and receives more questions than ever..and not because people are less knowledgeable about wine. It's actually because it's so much easier to reach me or one of my assistants. I regularly publish my toll free phone number (800-845-WINE) and my E-mail address (winetrader@aol.com) and my snailmail address: Box 1598, Carson City, NV 89702. Q. I bought a case of the Ferrari-Carano 1994 Zinfandel you recommended so highly from a retailer, opened the first bottle with great anticipation and it was...disaster, calamity, a considerable setback. The bottle I opened was spoiled by bad cork taint (the chemical TCA). I opened a second and it was wonderful just as you said it would be. Here's my question: What is the proper protocol? Do I ask the retailer for recompense? Do I telegraph Ferrari-Carano? Or do I simply accept the fact that bad corks are a fact of life and pour it down the drain?
Bernie Rose A. Let me explain first, for those who don't know, that a chemical compound call "2-4-6 TCA" occasionally affects a piece of cork bark, which when used to stopper a bottle of wine causes the wine to smell and taste like moldy wet newspapers in your grandmothers earthen root cellar. And that's the flattering description. These days, what with modern cork processing, it only happens to maybe two or three bottles out of 100. It won't hurt you, but once you smell it you'll never forget it. It is so potent humans can detect it at levels in parts per billion. For many years I've worked with Scott Labs of Sonoma County to educate consumers to recognize this problem. You can order a tiny vial of TCA with instructions for setting up an experiment in your own home that will make you an expert. Send $3 to: Corky, Box 1598, Carson City, NV 89702. What to do when you encounter a cork-tainted (wine professionals called them "corky" or "corked") wine? If you're in a restaurant, refuse it when it's presented. That's really what the ritual of offering you a smell and a taste when a wine is served is all about. When purchased from a retail store, it should be returned to that store. But you should return a recorked, nearly full bottle. Retailers frown on folks who bring nearly empty bottles, asking for replacement or refund. You may occasionally run into a merchant so uninformed that they will balk at your return and may even try to convince you there's nothing wrong. Be firm, and they'll usually do the right thing. If your retailer refuses, or you buy from several shops and can't remember where you bought a particular bottle by the time you get around to opening it, the winery or importer will usually make good. (In this instance, I know F-C would.) A nearly full bottle should always be returned. Q. I've been looking for the Sherries and Muscats produced by Novitiate Winery near San Jose, but I haven't been able to find any. Can you help?
Deborah DiFrances A. Nope. They've been out of business for a decade or more. Try the very reasonably priced Sherries of The Christian Brothers and the Muscats of Quady Winery. Quady makes several delicious sweet sippers, Elysium from Black Muscat; Electra, a very low alcohol Orange Muscat; and Essensia, a brandy-enhanced Orange Muscat. Both brands have national distribution. Q. Why does my red wine always taste better to me the second day after it's opened and what do you think of vacuum devices for preserving wine?
William Olsen A. The wine tastes better the second day because the wine industry all over the world is bottling red wine way too young. Blame government for taxing policies that make aging wine impractical, the high cost of money to hold wine in inventory and the fact that we're in the middle of the biggest wine shortage in many years. When you open a bottle, drink half of it, and then return to it the next day, it has been exposed to air for 24 hours, and this slight oxidation somewhat duplicates the effect that longer aging would have. This only works on a very short term basis. Leave the wine open for longer periods and the oxidation will begin to have negative effects. But short term, the harsh tannins are softened and grapey young flavors become somewhat more complex. The vacuum systems simply don't work. They've been lab tested and oxygen returns almost immediately. Better to do what wineries do when they have a partially filled container that they want to preserve. They pump in inert gas, usually nitrogen, to protect the wine from oxygen. You can do the same thing on a small scale with a product called "Private Preserve," an aerosol can of nitrogen and argon. A couple of spurts will preserve wine for weeks, even months. It also protects such products as olive oil, liqueurs, any sealed product than can be damaged by oxidation. It's about $10 for 180 uses.
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