The Wine Guys: Your questions answered

Sometimes we get questions that send us searching for answers. Here are a few that we have collected over the last several months.Q: I have heard that immersing plastic in corked wine will remove the off flavors. True?A: We thought this was crazy until we heard the same from Rick Sayre, winemaker at Rodney Strong Vineyards. He said small plastic pellets are used in the winemaking process now, so he joined others in trying to use plastic on a smaller scale to remove trichloroanisole - TCA - in a bad bottle of wine. He says you can use a wad of plastic wrap, but a better idea is to pour the wine into a plastic mug of some kind.Pete Finkelstein at Bay Ridge Wine & Spirits says he too has tried the technique as a last-ditch effort to save a corked wine. Both men say the technique will make the wine drinkable - but it will not restore the wine completely.Q: Is TCA found only in wine?A: No, TCA is a common characteristic of many foods.


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