Saran Wrap and TCA Corked White Wine

OK, here's the deal:

3 Btls of Sullivan Napa Chard 2003, and one is "corked." I had finished one bottle and noted pear (sweet), some stone-mineral, medium acid, med-short finish. Next, I encountered the corked bottle, mentioned in an earlier post. Definite TCA, though only at about a 3 (1-10 scale), mustiness, higher acid, and a total lack of fruit. This is where the Saran Wrap™ comes in. For those in environs, outside the US, Saran Wrap is the trade marked "cling wrap" sheet, sold in rolls. There are several mfgrs and as many names. Mark Lipton can probably tell you the exact chemical composition of each variety. I used the Saran Wrap variety. Since the bottle had been opened, tasted, and placed back in the fridge with a Vacuu-vin stopper, I opted for a modified control in my experiment. After 3 days storage in fridge (not optimum time for an empirical examination of this process, but it is the best that I can do), I tasted this wine again - still TCA, high acid, no fruit. So far, so good. I used one glbutt as control 1. I caraffed the remainder into a crystal decanter. I used a large-mouthed funnel, and placed the Saran Wrap into the funnel, crumpling it to fit the mouth. I pierced a hole (chop-stick used) in the bottom. I slowly poured the remainder of the corked bottle into the funnel. I immediately stoppered the decanter. I then opened and poured the from the last bottle. Now, I had three glbuttes: one direct pour from bottle of corked wine, one from the Saran Wrap caraffed decanter, and one from a new, uncorked bottle. The direct pour was still noticeably corked with a definite TCA nose, high acid and no fruit. The caraffed pour had the most faint of TCA on the nose, and the acid was considerably less, but still elevated. The fruit was more Asian pear, or US "cooking pear." The finish was rather short. Control 2, the fresh, clean bottle, was exactly as expected. I went back to each glbutt, after about 30 min. The straight, corked glbutt, was still as bad as before. The caraffed glbutt was now without noticeable TCA! But, the acid was still up there, and the pear was Asian, not a sweet one, and there was a hint of banana on the palate, but the finish was a bit longer. My wife did not notice any TCA, but she is less critical of this, than am I. The fresh glbutt was about the same, but the finish was a bit longer now, and there was a touch of honey - maybe a bit of warming, though the ambient temp was quite cool.

All in all, I'd say that the Saran Wrap helped, as the wine was drinkable. I did not detect any hint of "plasticizer" in the wine, though the contact time was limited during the caraffing process. I still want Sullivan to replace the corked bottle, but it was a useful experiment. If one happens upon a corked bottle (this was a test of a white, and I have no idea how it might affect a corked red), the Saran Wrap treatment might render it drinkable, but with some not so subtle changes in the character. If I were conducting tastings, I would NOT use this method, but would open and pour a different bottle.

Hunt