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It’s November (my birthday month!) and the holidays are officially around the corner.
Which also means…‘tis the season of drinking.
Whether you’re gifting, hosting, or soldiering through a company holiday party, chances are you’ll be opening more wine than usual in the next couple months!
Let’s go over how to spot when a wine is flawed, what you can do about it, and when it’s time to dump the bottle or send it back.
Pour Decisions
Some wine flaws are fixable, and others…not so much.
Let’s start with the ones that can’t be saved.
Cork Taint (aka Corked Wine)
How to spot it: Smells like wet newspaper, musty basement, damp dog
The culprit: A compound called TCA. Not harmful, but unpleasant
Preventing it: Unfortunately, 1-3% of wines are corked and there’s nothing you can do about it. TCA is formed when certain insecticides and fungicides come into contact with fungi, mold, or bacteria in tree barks. When these tree barks get turned into cork, you get the corked wine. This means screwtop wines and those rubbery, not-tree corks don’t get TCA!
Pro tip: If you have two of the same bottle, taste them side by side. You’ll notice how the corked one mutes the fruit and makes everything feel dull and lifeless.
🥑 Oxidation
How to spot it: It’ll taste and smell flat, Sherry-like, or like a vinegary bruised apple. Red wines will look brown
The culprit: Too much air exposure, like how a sliced apple or avocado turns brown
Preventing it: Proper storage goes a long way! Store corked wines on their sides, and always re-seal opened bottles (ideally with a vacuum pump) and refrigerate. If you don’t have a pump, just stick the cork back in and drink within 2–3 days.
☀️ Heat Damage
How to spot it: It’ll smell jammy and sweet (in a bad way), and there could also be some oxidation
The culprit: Excess heat
Preventing it: Don’t leave your wine in a hot car, ship wines overnight in warm months, and store your wine in cool, air conditioned places (not your hot garage).
Now for the flaws that can be salvaged…
🫧 Secondary Fermentation
How to spot it: Your not-fizzy wine is fizzy
The culprit: Sometimes when there’s a little sugar left over after bottling, the wine re-ferments, leading to little bubbles. This happens more often in low intervention wines with zero sulfites added
What to do: Some winemakers do this on purpose, so the first step is to confirm the bubbles are intentional! Otherwise, decant the wine or swirl aggressively to get the bubbles out
🍳 Reduction
How to spot it: Smells like rotten eggs, burnt rubber, or struck matches
The culprit: Low oxygen during winemaking that creates sulfur-based compounds
What to do: Decanting for ~20 minutes before drinking and swirling the wine will help the aroma “blow off.” You can also try stirring your wine with silver (weird but true). If the smell sticks around, it’s flawed, so toss it or send it back.
And finally, the not-really-flaws that are in personal preference territory:
💅 Volatile Acidity
How to spot it: Smells like vinegar or nail polish remover
What it is: All wines have acid, but this specifically refers to gaseous acetic acid and ethyl acetate.
Is it bad? Some winemakers use it to add complexity to the flavor. Some love it, some hate it. If it’s overly vinegar-y, that could be a wine flaw.
🐴 Brett
How to spot it: Smells like a farm. Barnyards, wet hay, a sweaty saddle.
What it is: Short for Brettanomyces, a wild yeast
Is it bad? Often used as a stylistic choice, Brett even in small amounts can dull fruitiness and give the wine a metallic taste. More commonly found in red wines, some enjoy the earthy funk, others find it overpowering and distracting
If you’ve ever smelled or tasted a wine and thought “...is it supposed to taste like this?” I hope this gave you a little more confident to trust your gut and ask for a new bottle the next time something feels off!
Now, let’s talk about your flaws…
Sip Happens
How many of you look in the mirror and think, “Wow, I look great!”
…Yeah, same.
I have one of those LED magnifying mirrors that really lets me examine my pores and the grey hairs popping up.
Some of my gym time is spent scrutinizing the lower belly fat that apparently never disappears after 30.
Even writing this newsletter comes with its own spiral of doubt:
Is this helpful? Am I rambling? Is there some embarrassing typo somewhere?
I think women especially have this obsession with perfection.
Our skin should be flawless.
Our work impeccable.
Our homes tidy.
We obsess over every tiny “flaw” on our faces, in our bodies, in our emails (did I use too many exclamation points?!!!).
Even Reese Witherspoon credits her (multi-million dollar) success to her anxiety and perfectionism:
“I had pressured myself to extreme levels to show up at work in a perfect way…We all now know, perfect is not attainable. It’s not sustainable. I stressed myself out in service of my job, and it got me really, really far. I’m rewarded for my anxiety and perfectionism.”
(Yes, I sent that quote to my therapist. No, she hasn’t responded yet. Weird.)
Sure, I could rant about how social media, photoshop, and societal expectations got us here.
And I don’t think striving to be great is bad!
I just think that not every “flaw” needs fixing or even is a flaw.
Some (perceived) imperfections are just part of us, like a funky wine that’s a little wild but still totally enjoyable.
I really like what Emma Grede (CEO and co-founder of SKIMS) said on her podcast, Aspire:
That instead of aiming for perfection, we should be aiming for excellence.
Because perfect is unattainable.
But we can all strive to do everything with excellence.
And look…I’m still going to stare at my pores.
And no matter what Reese says, I’m going to try not to let anxiety and perfectionism be the things that drive me.
But I am trying to separate the flaws that need to go from the ones that are just a matter of taste.
What do you think:
Is chasing perfection what drives you, or are you working to embrace some of your so-called flaws?
Hit reply and let me know. I read every email and love hearing from you!
See you next week,
P.S. This newsletter grows one email at a time. If this issue made you think, feel, or laugh, consider sharing it with someone who’d appreciate it too! I’ll be forever grateful 🥹
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