Top half of cork moldy - 1994 German Reisling Spatlese
I just removed the collar from a 1994 bottle of German Reisling Spatlese and noticed a moldy mildew smell. After removing the cork, sure enough - the top-half of the cork showed signs of a moldy mildewy residue. The bottom half of the cork appeared fine. I reached into the bottle with a paper towel to wipe off what residue may remain before pouring. Do I stop here and just return the bottle with cork, or is it worth trying anyway? I've never experienced cork taint before - statistically I'm overdue - it's around the 150th to 200th bottle of wine that I've tried. I understand that it's a dark damp cave/wet cardboard/wet dirty dog smell, which the cork definitely smells like. I feel like a virgin rounding third base...
-
The petrol scent has nothing to do with the mold. Further, edelfaule is botrytis cinerea, which I strongly doubt would be on the cork.
›4 Replies-
-
re: bubbles4me
I love both. A good 2005 Riesling Spatlese... Auslese, even? ... I'm there.
A good 1983 Riesling Auselse, sign me up! Hell, I think some of those haven't even hit their sweet spot drinking windown yet.
To my palate, German Riesling changes dramatically over time, but it is one of the few wines that is good throughout most of its life. It hardly goes through a dumb phase (though it does a little) and while itchanges dramatically, both tthe young and old versions are incredibly appealing to me.
-
-
re: bulavinaka
As I said, *TO ME* I thin there are at least two very well repsected board members who don't appreciate old Riesling. Really, the ket is testing and seeing. I mean, I had a Dr. Loosen W.S. Auslese last year and I thought it was 5 years prior to its peak drinking. But I would place serious money that if MariaLorraine, whose palate I adore, had tasted it, she would have gagged and said it was 20 years too old and was way way way too petrol-y. The only way is to try and see for yourself
-
-
-
-
-
After sampling the wine, my opinion is that it was fine. Delicate fruit, minerals, residual sugar, slight acid and hints of coconut? Aftertaste was relatively long. Didn't taste like or smell like Big Foot's cave in spring...
This was the first time I popped the top on a slightly older German Riesling. Being a white wine with low alcohol content had me thinking that maybe it didn't have the legs to sit for 14 years, but I thought it was fine. Three others tried it and two thought it was fine but my wife seems convinced that it tastes moldy. I think the image of the cork and its initial smell stuck with her.
bubbles4me mentions that this cork issue is relatively common with German wines. I wonder why? And does this moldy cork issue appear elsewhere in general?
Thanks for the info and encouragement...
›6 Replies-
re: bulavinaka
A moldy cork can appear anywhere. I think old and sweet has a lot to do with it, though.
A corked wine tastes of cork and has little if any fruit. It sounds like your wine was absolutely fine. A lot of funk happens to German wines as they age. Petrol, etc. That may be what your wife was smelling.
By the way, empirically, high alcohol seems to make a wine age *faster* not slower. And sugar is a preservative. And high acid seems to seriously increase a wine's aging potential. Sweet German Rieslings can age for a long time. Even at the Auslese level, it is not uncommon to prefer a 25 or 30 year old wine to a 4 year old wine.
-
re: whiner
I did detect a petrol/almost paint thinner note in the nose after swirling, sniffing and swigging it after letting it open up a little - it really caught me off guard. That gave way to the coconut nose I referred to earlier. Very unusual stuff going on in those sweet German Rieslings after laying them down for a while. Great info - thank you...
-
re: bulavinaka
I've never seen as much of the moldy cork thing from other regions as I have in German wines, (often have people try and return bottles with the foils cut off because they are nervous about the mold...always tell them, "taste it, if it is off then return it...98% of the time the wine is fine and the customer is thrilled to learn a new lesson...just happens sometimes with German wines.) I once heard it had something to do with bottling, like a bit of wine ends up on top of the cork before the foil is put on...not sure why or if that is even true as I am no German expert.
Yeah, the petrol thing....I am one of the rare people in this business that really has no love for that smell or taste, I can appreciate it but not something I really enjoy. That being said most of my peers LOVE it!-
re: bubbles4me
"I once heard it had something to do with bottling, like a bit of wine ends up on top of the cork before the foil is put on..."
And/or loose-fitting cork.
Both (i.e., loose fitting corks and mold on top ) a pretty common occurrence with French wines as well back in the early 80s. Now completely gone. Obviously, producers have become more market savvy.
-
re: bubbles4me
Interesting... I was kinda going down the same path, but I obviously don't have the knowledge or experience to validate that about the bottling process. The bottom half of the cork was absolutely fine, but my guess is this issue probably turns off a lot of those like me who weren't familiar with this issue. I Yahooed "cork taint riesling spatlese" after my discovery and the first hit listed was from wine.com on the same wine that we had but a more recent vintage. The text of the first hit briefly describes about screw caps now being used to prevent cork taint, but upon clicking on the hit, I didn't find the same info in the notes.
http://search.yahoo.com/search;_ylt=A...
I'm still a relative wine novice, so the petrol note is not what I'm comfortable with either but from the opposite end of the experience spectrum...
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
