I remember very specifically my first standoff involving a bad bottle of wine. It wasn't with a sommelier at a fine restaurant in Europe but with Damario, the owner of a local pizza place in London.
Damario strategically agitated our debate with a rather loud announcement to the restaurant that I simply did not enjoy the smell or taste of an unfamiliar grape varietal.
As is often the case when faced with confrontation, it was fight or flight. And over an unpresuming glass of wine. Considering all of the inner strength I mustered even to question the bottle, it was quite a feat for me that in the end I stood my ground. My husband and I went on to enjoy our dinner with a fresh bottle being opened, proving victory. Yes ... there was a wine fault. And Damario and I went on to be come dear friends.
It's sometimes difficult to discern whether certain flavors in wine are a palatable fault or a matter of personal taste. Straightforward inexpensive wines should be fresh and fruity, while aging wines can offer aromas and tastes we need to have more familiarity with to understand. Consider the farmyard-manure smell of old Burgundy, the gas (petrol) smell of mature Riesling or even the legendary "cat's pee on a tomato bush" of distinct Sauvignon blanc. These are moments the taste or smell is horrific but correct in the way the wine should be.
Unfortunately, there is not a lot we can do about aged or unique wines we buy after we pull the cork. However, knowing there is a difference in preference versus fault can arm us with confidence.
So how do you learn the difference between a faulty wine and one you simply do not like?
Learning the faults and how they happen is the first step.
A corked wine will have a distinct smell of mold, much like a musty basement. The smell is very obvious and simply difficult to overlook or even continue drinking the wine. Other wines may have faults much more difficult to detect, such as smells of a wet dog (yeast or bacteria), cardboard (over-filtering) or cooked cabbage, rubber or rotten eggs (sulfur).
The color can also tell you more about the wine. A wine younger than 2 years old should be clear and bright. Youthful white wines will rarely be brown in color, a suspect for an oxidized wine.
Lorri Hambuchen is a member of London's Institute of Wines and Spirits. Contact her at the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, P.O. Box 2221, Little Rock, Ark. 72203, or email:
Food on 06/11/2014