Cork taint

Cork taint is the undesirable effect the cork contaminant trichloroanisole has on wine which had been sealed in a bottle with a cork.

A wine afflicted with cork taint is said to be "corked". Corked wine has a characteristic odor, variously described as resembling a moldy newspaper, wet dog, or damp basement. In almost all cases the aroma of the wine is reduced significantly, and a very tainted wine is completely undrinkable. While the human threshold for detecting trichloroanisole is measured in the single-digit parts per trillion, this can vary by several orders of magnitude depending on an individual's sensitivity.

The incidence of bottles with cork taint is estimated to be between 1 and 15 percent. The former figure is from the cork-industry group APCOR, which cites a study showing a 0.7-1.2% taint rate. Anecdotal evidence from wine professionals suggests that the rate may be substantially higher.