For The Love Of Port

Only two more years to wait. Wow. Reminds me of an in person rant, the first time I ever visited Amorim and spoke up about TCA issue.

https://www.thedrinksbusiness.com/2018/ ... a-by-2020/



But what about all the corked wines already in my cellar?

Call me skeptical.

Eric Menchen wrote:Call me skeptical.

They already have the guarantee for their top end corks. Now it’s just getting the technology they have to cost less and work faster. That usually happens a whole lot faster than the initial development of a product.


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I am slightly skeptical of their guaranteed corks. And then, even if the corks are TCA free from the factory, that doesn't prevent TCA from getting into the bottle somewhere after that.

Is it possible to get TCA from the wine itself, or is the cork the only way TCA can be introduced?

Moses Botbol wrote:Is it possible to get TCA from the wine itself, or is the cork the only way TCA can be introduced?

Yes if a winery itself is infected. BV here in Napa was a great example. Just google BV TCA issues and you’ll see where Wine Spectator finally called them out on it after they refused to do anything about it when told by WS privately. Cost a lot of money to gut the winery and clean it all up.


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Andy Velebil wrote:

Moses Botbol wrote:Is it possible to get TCA from the wine itself, or is the cork the only way TCA can be introduced?

Yes if a winery itself is infected. BV here in Napa was a great example. Just google BV TCA issues and you’ll see where Wine Spectator finally called them out on it after they refused to do anything about it when told by WS privately. Cost a lot of money to gut the winery and clean it all up.

I thought Niepoort had a similar issue along their bottling line several years ago?

Moses Botbol wrote:

Andy Velebil wrote:

Moses Botbol wrote:Is it possible to get TCA from the wine itself, or is the cork the only way TCA can be introduced?

Yes if a winery itself is infected. BV here in Napa was a great example. Just google BV TCA issues and you’ll see where Wine Spectator finally called them out on it after they refused to do anything about it when told by WS privately. Cost a lot of money to gut the winery and clean it all up.

I thought Niepoort had a similar issue along their bottling line several years ago?

Never heard that. I think you’re thinking of their VA issues in the 80’s and 90’s.


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Andy Velebil wrote:Never heard that. I think you’re thinking of their VA issues in the 80’s and 90’s.

Ok, that could be it. It was in that time frame which reminds to actually open an '85 Niepoort. Keep forgetting to revisit.

Even breweries have gotten TCA, no corks involved. It's rare, but possible.

Eric Menchen wrote:Even breweries have gotten TCA, no corks involved. It's rare, but possible.

A lot of it in the past was from the use of bleach and cleaning products that contain hypochlorite to clean the winery, which caused the TCA (short version). It's a bigger issue if you have exposed wood (beams, barrels, and even dirty metal drains, etc) that would get exposed, that would then send it airborne. Basically that's what happened to BV. Essentially every wine BV made was TCA infected to a degree and why Wine Spectator finally called them out for it.

I would assume it doesn't matter if you're making wine or beer, the issues would be the same.

Yes, chlorine and organics. Bad mix.

E&J Gallo went through it, Hanzell had a winery wide issue with TCA and there have been others too. As mentioned, it is frequently from using the wrong cleaning solution for the winery and once infected, it is a costly and slow process to get rid of it. Nowadays, it is fairly well-known how to avoid the issue at the winery level. But at some point we'll read about another one coming down with this issue.