Wine Flaws - Avoiding Bad Wine

Despite best efforts, some wines do go bad. We’ve all heard about the wine so vinegary that you can put it on your salad. But there are other things that can happen. And I assure you, it won’t be hard to tell a bad wine when you taste one. The first place to tell will be the aroma. But, keep in mind that earthy aromas do not necessarily mean a wine is bad.

Also, some of the wine flaws do not mean that the wine is undrinkable. It just won’t be very good. Here’s what can go wrong:

• Too old. Yes, we’ve heard all about how aging improves the wine. But a wine can age too much - especially some like Beaujolais that are not meant to be aged. Over-aged wine will have lost the flavors that the aging was intended to bring out. It will be dull.
• Too young. With many young red wines, the tannins tend to be strong. If you intend to drink it right away, aeration can help somewhat but it still better to age it several years to smooth out the taste.
• Corked. One of the worst wine flaws. When a cork is defective and lets air into the bottle, the wine is said to be corked. This will make the wine smell and taste musty like wet cardboard. This is a bad wine and should be tossed. Unfortunately, this is a prevalent problem and some wineries have shifted over to screw tops to eliminate any corkage issues. By the way, don’t confuse this with broken cork in the wine. That’s no problem.
• Travel woes. If a wine was shipped from great distances, it may need some time to recover. It is jostled, exposed to cold, exposed to humidity, exposed to heat. Some wineries will not ship wine by land in the summertime because it can become overheated during the trip. Sometimes that can happen driving in an un-airconditioned car. Or what happens if you put your wine in the trunk while driving across town in subzero weather? You get the idea.
• Problematic winemaking. Nobody’s perfect. Winemakers make mistakes and poor decisions. Worse, they may try to cover up their mistakes. Or a problem occurs along the way while bottling the wine. Sometimes too much oxygen gets into the bottle due to poor storage. Sometimes too much sulfur dioxide (used as a preservative) gets in the wine. Sometimes too much acetic acid gets in during the winemaking process. Ergo - vinegar. Naturally, if that winery establishes a track record in doing that, it’s time to move on to other wines.
• Bad luck and bad bottles. Once, I visited a winery in Napa Valley (who will remain nameless because they regularly make great wines). I sampled their wines and loved them. Back home I bought a bottle and was greatly disappointed. It didn’t have the robust flavor that I tasted at the winery. All who tasted it with me agreed. It may not have even been the winery’s fault. Maybe travel woes like above. Maybe poorly stored. Just a bad bottle. I’m afraid that’s the luck of the draw. Fortunately, these things are the exception rather than the norm.
• Wine is out of balance. I consider this a minor problem because a perfect balance is difficult to achieve. And many such wines still are good especially if the balance shifts toward a taste that you like. But technically, this is a flaw.
• Wrong temperature. I won’t repeat all my comments about temperature here since they are on its own page. Just adjust the temperature accordingly.
• Over-oxidized. If air gets into the bottle or if it is left open too long, this can happen. It can smell and taste burnt. In more extreme cases, it can get vinegary or smell like nail polish. Nail polish belongs on the ladies’ nails and not in a wine glass. This can happen in restaurants and bars when they serve house wine and it sits there too long.
• The wine is “bretty”. This is the “barnyard” taste. In small doses and due to the grape’s soil, this is acceptable. But when a winery’s hygiene is not up to par and this taste dominates, then it’s no dice.
• Fizziness. This can happen if all the yeast is not removed prior to bottling and it goes to work on any remaining sugar. This is a mild wine flaw not to be concerned about. In fact, some wines are deliberately made this way. I’ve had some carbonated pinot noirs. Personally, I am a purist and don’t want the carbonation. But it wasn’t bad.
• Cloudiness. This can result in poor filtration and clarification procedures in the winemaking process. It could also be due to active bacteria or yeast cells. I would pass on that.
• Sediment. Older reds will have this accumulation of particulate matter in the bottom of the bottle. Standing the bottle upright for awhile and then decanting and filtering the wine will eliminate most of the sediment. While it appears undesirable, it is harmless.

Now you know many of the wine flaws that can occur. When a wine doesn’t taste right, you now know why.

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