What are common faults in wine?
There are two common faults in wine. When a wine is exposed to oxygen during storage, it becomes oxidized. The wine loses its fresh taste and smell becoming flat and dull. The wine will also look more brown than typical. To check this for yourself, you can set out a few ounces of wine on the kitchen counter and test it for color, scent and taste every few days. Oxidizing is often the result of storage conditions that are too warm or a faulty cork seal. The best way to avoid a faulty cork seal is to store the bottle on its side to keep the cork wet. The second most common fault in wine is when a bottle is corked. A musty smell of wet newspaper is caused by a cork tainted by trace amounts of a chemical that can seep into the wine. Although this is not dangerous, it can ruin a good bottle of wine. All reputable wine sellers will replace a corked bottle at no charge. However, if you are going to return a corked bottle, don’t pour it out. Your wine seller may ask you to bring in the wine.
