1983 Cockburn Vintage Port -- Corked!

[Richard Henderson]

I have posted here about my good luck with Cockburn 83. Roy et al have mentioned the many corked bottles. I opened a bottle this week. The beloved and I immediately smelled the unmistakable, wet dog, wet card board smell of corked wine. It had fruit fighting through and had some pleasant notes, but it was profoundly, unmistakably, corked! Interesting that the wax seal was intact. No leaks. The cork came out intact but the bouquet was definitely corked. The flavors confirmed it.

[Roy Hersh]

Welcome to the club, Richard. The only thing worse than opening up a 1983 Cockburn's to find it corked immediately, is to have NO signs of the bottle being corked and have it show up 5 hours later, negating all good will and .

Happy holidays to you and your family my friend!

[Andy Velebil]

Ah yes, the dreaded corked Cockburn's. Be happy this was your first bottle, I think I've only had 1 or two that wasn't corked

[Roy Hersh]

I wonder if now that the Symington's own Cockburn's if they'd be willing to make good on corked bottles, sending the expense back to the cork producer the way they've been doing with other bottlings.

[Glenn E.]

Pfft. I thought the '83 Cockburn we had at the 2009 Port Gala was fine.

Then again, I think most corked bottles are fine.

[Moses Botbol]

I think I've only had 1 or two that wasn't corked

I have this vintage 4-5 times and only one was not corked! Wow, what a bottle it was though; powerful.

[Richard Henderson]

Great when it is not corked. Sad when it is. An interesting thought to have them make it good, but at what inconvenience? An affidavit? Our word? Send the corked product? ( Not practical) I think the current conventional wisdom ( which I sometimes call the conventional ignorance) is that 15 % of all wines in any given collection are corked. I have circa 1500 bottles so 225 are corked and I can't tell which ones.

[Eric Menchen]

D'oh! I was trying to pick a bottle earlier this week to open and was tempted to open one of these, but I just couldn't bring myself to do it. I guess I wasn't in the gambling mood. Maybe after I win the lottery. Sorry to hear it Richard.

[Roy Hersh]

Richard,

The Port trade says the number is closer to 3%, although when visiting Amorim they put the number at about half that which we all know is BS. The highest number I have ever seen put in print was in the WS some years ago where they said that for all bottles they had sampled that year the percentage of corked bottles was 8% but again, I've never read anywhere else where a number was that high ... by any legitimate source. So, although you may have bad luck ... I doubt it is more than 1 in 7 bottles you open. If so, you might want to have your cellar checked as it could be a problem with TCA in YOUR specific cellar. That % would be outrageously high, imo.

[Richard Henderson]

I don't know where I heard the number. Some forum. somewhere and I am old so I am not sure where. I hope 1 in 7 is right but isn't that close to 15%? Let's say it is 5-8%, of 1500 bottles of all wines, that is still 75- 120 bottles.
I seem to have relatively good luck . This is the first corked port I can remember. I have had a few Californias and French from time to time that were corked but not very often.
We had Beringher 1987 CS tonight that we have cellared for years and it was perfect. I think our cellar is okay.

[Moses Botbol]

The funniest thing is when a corked bottle is opened and the bottle owner does not want to admit it is corked. It's a not a personal reflection on them (unless the bottle looked really suspect and that's all they showed up with). People do have different sensitivity to TCA and like. I went over a friend's house on Wednesday that opened a CA wine that was clearly musty and he did not think so. OK...

I had trouble tasting any cork issues on 2007 VP's; the wine is just too powerful for me to sense it. Well at least before others on the Harvest Tour beat me to the punch.

[Roy Hersh]

Moses,

Young VP is much harder than an older bottle. As you've alluded to, the brash, bright young primary fruit can mask the mustiness, especially in a pop and pour situation. As I mentioned, I've had several bottles of the 1983 Cockburn's where it literally took 5 hours for the TCA to really show itself. Prior to that, I had a "feeling" that maybe it was corked, but not until it really unwinds in decanter was I positive ... and I think I can normally detect low levels around 2 parts per trillion when it comes to TCA. Then again, I couldn't guess right half the time whether a wine uses French or American oak.

But as you've read and seen for yourself, a wine could be so badly corked that you'd retch upon smelling it and would never even consider contaminating your glass or palate with it and Glenn sits there smiling and saying it is a great wine. All that goes to show that some people are cursed by their sensitivity and others are blessed not to be able to discern it whatsoever. Of course the vast majority of wine enthusiasts fall somewhere in between.

[Glenn E.]

and Glenn sits there smiling and saying it is a great wine.

Everyone has a superpower! Mine appears to be immunity to TCA.

[Roy Hersh]

Hopefully as I get older, my senses will dull and I will also become immune to TCA. It may take a couple more decades, but I am in no hurry.

[Richard Henderson]

About two decades from now , huh--about the time you will need Viagra!

[Roy Hersh]

Richard,

By then, they'll have figured out an easier way than taking a pill. Maybe some futuristic pheromone ... if my nose is still as sensitive.

[Eric Menchen]

Well I am not immune, and I can sense it at low levels, but I'm in the camp of it doesn't really bother me except at high levels. Then again, I like some beverages fermented with brettanomyces, lactobacillus, pediococcus, and when in the mood, even acetobacter if not too overwhelming.

[Brian C.]

I only had the 1983 Cockburn once, and I lucked out.

I don't think I am very good at detecting TCA (might be that I've unwittingly smelled it, though), but I am good at detecting ethyl acetate (smells like nail polish remover) in wines, though I wonder if that flaw ever shows up in port at all.

[Glenn E.]

Brian, yeah that shows up in Port. You'll see it referred to as VA - for Volatile Acidity - in some tasting notes in the TNDB. Technically VA should smell like vinegar and not nail polish remover, but acetic acid often causes the concomitant formation of ethyl acetate and acetaldehyde.

I don't find VA to be a bad thing unless it's really strong, sort of like alcohol itself. A little of either on the nose isn't a big deal, but if either one is overpowering it's a problem.

[Brian C.]

I tried a particular Aglianico del Vulture twice, and both times, the ethyl acetate was so overwhelming to me that it was undrinkable. I have also seen it show up prominently the next day. Other times I have seen it dissipate soon enough.

I had thought that VA was not necessarily the same as ethyl acetate. I found this link about VA, and it does mention ethyl acetate as a subset of the VA phenomenon: http://waterhouse.ucdavis.edu/winecomp/va.htm