How to Know if the Wine is Bad

Here are some guidelines to know if the wine is bad.

There are several possible defects that a wine can have and some of them are difficult to detect if you are not a winemaker or wine tasting specialist.  Here are some tips on how to easily detect if you have a bottle of bad wine.

It all comes down to three sensory categories which are not that hard to identify:

• Color
• Smell
• Taste

The Color

Oxygen is essential for the maturation of wine, but unfortunately, excessive exposure to oxygen causes a wine to oxidize and spoil. When this defect occurs red wine appears brownish and white wine tends to be more golden due to its exposure to oxygen. Bubbles in your wine also indicate that your wine has been opened for too long. A cork pushed upward of the bottle can also be a sign that your wine has been oxidised.

The Smell

TCA (trichloroanisole) is the famous cork odor in wine. This defect is only perceived in the nose and mouth. The wine may look healthy, but the smell of cork or wet cardboard will be present. If you detect the smell of rotten eggs in the wine, it is spoiled without a doubt. This odor is generated by the sulfites (SO2) that are added to the wine for stabilization during its production. The smell of rotten eggs is very unpleasant and If a wine has it, it is spoiled without a doubt.

The Taste

Tasting wine can also be a good way to ensure that your wine has gone bad. If the wine is exposed to the oxygen and the heat, specific chemical reactions will occur in the bottle which can give your wine unpleasant aromas. Spoiled wine will have a sharp sour flavor caused by the formation of ethyl acetate and acetic acid in the wine bottle. Don’t worry, wine gone bad isn’t harmful. Acetic acid is vinegar; therefore, unless you drink really large quantities of wine, it will only cause some digestive problems due to its high acidity.