Start Date

7-1-2011 8:00 AM

End Date

7-1-2011 9:15 AM

Track

1. Track 1 – Formal Paper Presentation

Subject Area

Food Service

Faculty Member

Dr. Jay Neal email: jneal@central.uh.edu

Abstract

It is estimated that 2-7% of all wines are returned or rejected due to cork taint. The negative impact that cork taint has on the wine industry is currently unknown, but it could easily be an influence on unearned negative judgments about a restaurant’s or winery’s quality. Current estimates may be as high as four out of ten bottles produced contain taint due to cork contamination depending on the batch. Cork Taint has the ability to ruin a bottle of wine as well as ruin the reputation of the winery from which it came or the establishment that served it. It is estimated that the global lost revenue due to spoiled or tainted wine is over $10 billion annually. 2 4 6-Trichloroanisole (TCA) is the chemical responsible for the taint, and it may be transmitted into a bottle of wine via a contaminated cork, wood barrels, and other winery surfaces. Once a wine has been tainted there is no way to correct the problem. The most effective way to stop TCA from contaminating a wine is to ensure that only non-contaminated cork and other source materials are used.

In an effort to protect the reputations of the wine producers as well as on-premise providers, this research used e-beam irradiation to reduce or remove molds that produce TCA. In addition experiments were conducted to test the integrity of the post-irradiated corks including a long-term storage project.

Keywords

TCA, cork taint, wine, e-beam irradiation, wine industry, consumer wine consumption

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Jan 7th, 8:00 AM Jan 7th, 9:15 AM

Getting Rid of the Stinky Taint Problem

It is estimated that 2-7% of all wines are returned or rejected due to cork taint. The negative impact that cork taint has on the wine industry is currently unknown, but it could easily be an influence on unearned negative judgments about a restaurant’s or winery’s quality. Current estimates may be as high as four out of ten bottles produced contain taint due to cork contamination depending on the batch. Cork Taint has the ability to ruin a bottle of wine as well as ruin the reputation of the winery from which it came or the establishment that served it. It is estimated that the global lost revenue due to spoiled or tainted wine is over $10 billion annually. 2 4 6-Trichloroanisole (TCA) is the chemical responsible for the taint, and it may be transmitted into a bottle of wine via a contaminated cork, wood barrels, and other winery surfaces. Once a wine has been tainted there is no way to correct the problem. The most effective way to stop TCA from contaminating a wine is to ensure that only non-contaminated cork and other source materials are used.

In an effort to protect the reputations of the wine producers as well as on-premise providers, this research used e-beam irradiation to reduce or remove molds that produce TCA. In addition experiments were conducted to test the integrity of the post-irradiated corks including a long-term storage project.