How To Tell If Your Wine Is Corked With Just A Simple Whiff

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How To Tell If Your Wine Is Corked With Just A Simple Whiff By Allison Beussink Aug. 23, 2025 11:20 pm EST

The nose always knows if something smells off, especially when it comes to wine. Sommelier and co-host of The Wine Pair Podcast Joe Mele told The Takeout that if a wine is corked (also referred to as cork taint), the best way to tell is by giving it a healthy sniff. "If you smell wet cardboard, grandpa's musty basement, or a newspaper left out in the rain when you smell a wine, you are smelling corked wine," he said. It can cause the wine to taste musty, muted, or sour, though this can be more difficult to detect. "Yes, the taste will be off, but it will mostly be the smell that will give it away," Mele shared.

There are a couple of different situations that