Did you know that many times we consume wines without knowing that they are “defective”? They say there’s nothing written about tastes, however, in the world of wine there are certain parameters about what is acceptable and what is not. Here we tell you about some of the most common faults in wine and how to identify them.

Oxidation

It generally appears due to a bad or very long aging in the bottle, and it is caused by too much oxygen exposure, which dissolves in the wine. Just like a bitten apple gets brown if we leave it on the table, wine suffers an alteration of aromas and flavours: it feels drier, astringent and sometimes bitter.

In addition, in white wines their colour loses brightness and gets an amber-yellow hue, while red wines acquire brown nuances. But not all oxidation is bad: slow oxidation during aging can be beneficial as it provides stability and complexity to the wine. 

To prevent Amelia Pinot Noir or any other wine from oxidizing, it is best to keep the bottle at a low temperature since oxidation accelerates at higher temperatures.

Brett

Brett is the abbreviation for Brettanomyses, a wild yeast that causes aromas of leather, sweat, barn or horse in the wine. This may sound like a defect, however, there are some who enjoy these aromas when they are mild, as they add complexity and typicity to certain red grape varieties such as Casillero del Diablo Cabernet Sauvignon or Syrah. To such an extent that, in France, there are appellations that use it deliberately, although most wineries avoid it. This yeast generally reaches the wine from the vineyard or during the aging process, since this fungus can develop in oak barrels over time.

Corked

Have you ever wondered what it means a wine has a “cork” smell? We say that a wine is corked when it has an unpleasant musty aroma similar to wet cardboard. Although it is believed that this defect affects only 3% of the wines on the market, there are many more drinkers who complain about it. The defect is recognizable because the aroma of humidity reaches the mouth retro nasally, overshadowing the aromas and flavours of fresh fruit in the palate. The cause of this aroma comes from the formation of a trichloroanisole generated by fungi in the wine cork, and that can only be identified after opening the bottle.

Volatile Acidity (aka acetic acid)

We say that a wine has volatile acidity when it smells of vinegar. And since vinegar is a familiar scent, this is one of the easiest flaws to spot. Technically, a wine is faulted when its concentrations of acetic acid are very high (in a healthy wine, these levels are moderate), so it feels vinegary on the nose and in the palate. This usually happens with bottles that have been open for a long time, which provides the perfect environment for acetic acid bacteria to transform alcohol into vinegar.

Reduced Wine

A wine is said to be reduced when it experiences the opposite of oxidation. In other words, the wine has not had enough contact with oxygen, which causes the development of volatile sulfur compounds. This usually happens in winemaking, but it also occurs to old wines that have been in the bottle for many years, and can give wines a struck match aroma. At higher levels it can be perceived as the smell of garlic or rotten egg.