If wine leaks from the cork is the bottle automatically bad?

If wine leaks from the cork is the bottle automatically bad?

Or might it still be good on an old bottle?

No

and yes to the second question - Open it and see, might be surprised

As Linda says, the short answer is no.
I've had great older bottles with signs of seepage.
One key question is why did it leak- overfilling, cork issues, heat?
But I'll say that I typically don't buy/bid on leakers, because while it doesn't automatically mean wine is bad it dramatically increases chances.
An exception might be made for certain German Rieslings with reps for high fills. I've heard the same re some high end Burgs, but I can't afford them anyway.

Thanks, of the bottles I had that leaked, I had a Chianti that was a couple years old that leaked and was totally bad, tasted like card board.

And then I had a Rioja over 30 years old that tasted great!

Guess you answered your own question, however if have any older bottles that scare you, send em on to me.
L

[David M. Bueker]

I had a Chianti that was a couple years old that leaked and was totally bad, tasted like card board.

That bad cardboard taste is due to TCA contamination of the cork, not leakage.

I've had a couple of Northern Rhone wines I was really looking forward to trying when I saw the dread cork intrusion. They were delicious when drunk young, but I understand there may be issues if long term aging was involved.

[David M. Bueker]

The dreaded cork intrusion?

A finger of wine flowing up into the cork. Sorry for the obscurity.

[David M. Bueker]

Ah. Not always horrid. Some producers still overfill their bottles.

David wrote;
Ah. Not always horrid. Some producers still overfill their bottles.

Overfilling is not the only reason why wine “veins” its way into a cork. Hopefully everyone hear who is laying down corked bottles for the “long haul” is binning them on their side. Hopefully the cork is sound and “TCA free”, as long as it doesn’t “vein” itself to the outside surface of the cork; I wouldn’t worry about it too much.
Brian, the wine isn’t “veining” between the cork and the glass? Now that might indicate a faulty corker with “bad” jaws (cutting a “groove” on the outside surface of the cork). Now this might be a problem, compromising the seal (little suction cup action taking place between the cork and inside surface of the glass neck).

Salute

Just opened a 99 Guigal CDP, had a leaky cork and I was rewarded with musty damp cardboard on pulling the cork

too bad about the corked CdP, but as far as I know no relationship between leakers and TCA

I've had btls that were ullaged about 1/3'rd of the wine away. The btls were still good, though probably not as good as if there'd
been no ullage. The presumption is that if x amount of wine leaks out around the cork, that x amount of air is sucked
into the btl, and the wine will be oxidized. That's not been my experience; I've seldom seen overt signs of oxidation on these
heavy ullaged btls. My suspicion is that the volatiles from the wine replace the x amount ullaged out.
Tom

too bad about the corked CdP, but as far as I know no relationship between leakers and TCA

I figured if it was a bad cork due to the leaking, it was an inferior cork across the board and the TCA proved that theory.

too bad about the corked CdP, but as far as I know no relationship between leakers and TCA

I figured if it was a bad cork due to the leaking, it was an inferior cork across the board and the TCA proved that theory.

I don't think that's all that likely, but I do wonder about TCA chemistry. We all know that TCA gets worse in the glass when exposed to air, so perhaps the extra oxygen exchange from a leaky cork also speeds up the contamination in the bottle. Although given the very small amounts of TCA needed to be detected by tasters anyway, I suspect the difference would just be from "kinda corked" to "badly corked," but that either way it'd be gross. Maybe it's just more memorable when you're already thinking about the bottle as potentially flawed before you open it.

In my experience, leakage has rarely been a problem as long as the color and clarity of the wine were sound. I tend to drink a lot more Burgundy, Port and riesling than most, though, and Burgundy has always had more hand bottling/overfilling than Bordeaux, and Port and riesling seem to always leak without ill consequences, so I wouldn't read too much into my experience.

I don't think that's all that likely, but I do wonder about TCA chemistry. We all know that TCA gets worse in the glass when exposed to air, so perhaps the extra oxygen exchange from a leaky cork also speeds up the contamination in the bottle. Although given the very small amounts of TCA needed to be detected by tasters anyway, I suspect the difference would just be from "kinda corked" to "badly corked," but that either way it'd be gross. Maybe it's just more memorable when you're already thinking about the bottle as potentially flawed before you open it.

The reason for that apparent increase in TCA is one I've pondered in detail, Craig (I'm a chemist BTW). There are two possible explanations:

1. The TCA takes time to diffuse out of the wine and into the air
2. The mustiness of the TCA is initially masked by other odors in the wine that, in time, blow off, revealing the TCA

In either event, your hypothesis of leaky corks promoting TCA contamination is unlikely. Presuming that your bottles are lying on their sides, the cork is in continuous contact with the wine, and diffusion of TCA from cork to wine should be far faster than diffusion from cork to air to wine.

Mark Lipton

Craig, Ive heard the same thing (that color and clarity are more important than fill) from other experienced Burgheads.
I'm surprised that Tom finds bottles with 1/3 bottle ullage sound, I've never had a bottle with that poor a fill, but would say my experience with say Bordeaux with low shoulder fills is such I'd personally not spend any real money on one (I'm not talking re 80 year old bottles).
As noted, I do not to buy/bid on wines with seepage. The only exception is wines that I know have a history of overfilling (Mark L and I just lost a mixed lot of Riesling that included seepers, but wines I know with a history of it). It's less the seepage itself that the likelihood it was caused by heat that bothers me.

After reading an entire book about wine closures called To Cork or Not To Cork: Tradition, Romance, Science, and the Battle for the Wine Bottle by George M. Taber, I am very much of the opinion that the quality of the cork does matter. I can't say that a leaky cork contributes to TCA but a bad cork sure does. However I have also had a bottle sealed with screwcap that was off (not corked). This was due to the cap missing the inner seal. The wine was not up to its usual standard, probably about 60% of its normal self. Either way I am really, really tired of corked wines