If you’ve ever taken that first sip of wine, whether cheap plonk or hoity Bordeaux, and gotten a mouthful of something that tastes like moldy gym socks, you’ve come unpleasantly up close and personal to the affects of 2,4,6- trichloroanisole or TCA, for short.
TCA is a chemical that occurs naturally in some cork trees and is responsible for the moldy gym socks aromas and flavors imparted to wine by TCA-contaminated corks. Estimates of “corked” wines range from one to five percent, which may not seem like such a big deal until you pop that wine you’ve been saving for a special occasion and find that it tastes like something that crawled out of your old high school PE class.
For years, cork producers have tried to sniff out TCA-contaminated corks by, well, having them sniffed by sensitive-nosed humans. With as much as a five percent failure rate, it’s not surprising that winemakers and wine consumers sniff at that process.
This summer, however, should see a new automated system that guarantees 100-percent accuracy in discovering TCA-tainted corks. It’s called DS 100+, developed over several years by the California-based Cork Supply Group, which claims it can sniff out TCA in cork at levels of one part per trillion, well below the amount that can be detected by humans.
The system will first be used on high-end wines and as its capacity is improved, be gradually offered to wine producers at all price points.