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Ask a Wine Pro: What Should I Do With the Cork When My Server Presents It? | VinePair

When a server extends their hand and a freshly popped cork lands in front of you, there’s a failsafe way to handle the situation. “If the cork is given to you, take it, say ‘thank you so much,’ and set it right down,” Beavers says. If a sommelier believes that the presentation of the cork serves some greater purpose, they might encourage you to pick it back up and give you instructions on what to do next. Most likely, though, once you’ve set the cork down, the job is done.

Some diners might be tempted to sniff the cork before they place it back on the table — a practice that, Beavers explains, can be used to see if a wine is corked. It might not be worth your time to do this, though. “There is no science to prove that smelling a cork is an indication of cork taint in the bottle,” he says. “There’s also this weird thought that smelling the cork is like smelling the wine. If you’re smelling the cork, you’re just smelling the wine soaked into an organic material that has its own aromas.”

I always take a look at the cork to see if it's in really poor shape and/or has been compromised.  A good sommelier should have already checked this and sent back anything with a cork that is obviously compromised, but honestly at most restaurants I go to regularly, it's actually a server doing the job.  

Beyond that, I don't do anything.  I'm certainly not sophisticated enough to be able to determine if a wine has been corked simply by smelling the cork, even if such a thing were possible, which many (including the article) suggest is not.

of course Burnt knew a guy 

Love reading the home defense posts. I approach home defense a little differently, I'm more worried about collateral damage, than any property being taken or damaged. My daughters bedroom goes across the steps to our downstairs. I live is suburbia and a house to my west is only 16 feet away from mine.

Those Desert Eagles you guys are toting can go through 4 walls and still have stopping power, I don't want that. So I have a Ruger .45 in our bedroom fire safe with cowboy load (2/3 the power of a regular bullet.) It will still put a hole in a person right in front of me, (or at the bottom of my steps,) but won't make it through 2 sheets of dry way and kill my kid or neighbor. If there is a threat in my house (but not my bedroom) I can open the safe in under 3 seconds and have firepower protection at the ready. My wife and I both take annual gun safety course and I drag her to the range at least once more a year. (Me and my buddies will go out 6+ times to practice.)

I also have a short ninja sword that is bedside (2 fencing classes at OSU, and 4 years of Kendo classes) it's my goto to investigate, like if I hear a strange noise or my dog barks.

We also have a 45 lb pointer that will raise a ruckus if there any strangers/noises she doesn't recognize. (She's more likely to hear that noise before me.) I'd bet it's over a dozen times now that she a barked me awake, and I end up wondering around my house flipping lights on carrying a sheathed sword before figuring out theres a nocturnal animal outside that caught her attention.

I sleep easy at night confident my family is safe.

I read this and the first thing that popped into my mind was.....

Beyond that, I don't do anything.  I'm certainly not sophisticated enough to be able to determine if a wine has been corked simply by smelling the cork, even if such a thing were possible, which many (including the article) suggest is not.

The sommelier at our wine bar actually brought out a bottle that we'd selected, uncorked it, he smelled the cork and said the wine was corked. He actually took the time to explain how to test it as well, and let us taste the wine so we'd know the difference, before bringing the fresh bottle. 

The cork smelled a little rank and musty. I.e. like wine with a hint of gym sock. The wine itself just tasted "off". And obviously completely different than the fresh bottle. 

What was interesting is that the corked bottle didn't taste terrible. It didn't taste *good*, but I'm sure my wife and I would have just thought it was a wine we didn't like, not actively thought the bottle was ruined by being corked, if we hadn't learned what corked wine smells and tastes like. 

So now, I smell the cork when I open a bottle of wine. 

We've only run into one instance since while out at a restaurant, and that was a wine my wife ordered by the glass. She got it, tasted it, said this isn't right. Had me taste it, and I agreed. They poured her a glass from a new bottle of the same wine and all was well. 

The problem with "corky" wines is they aren't always off the rails corky, they can be slightly off.  And you may not know the wine very well, if at all.  I let my wife taste, she has better senses than me in taste and smell.  A lightly corky wine can just be rather flat and somewhat insipid without the rank basement/old wet socks odor.

There apparently is a single compound that causes this, trichloroanisole, that is produced by some microorganisms in the cork washing operation apparently.  It can get loose in a wine making operation and damage the entire run.

Yeah, this was the case with the wine bar. It was a wine we'd never had, so if we hadn't known what corked wine tastes like, we would have assumed that it was intended to taste like that. We probably would have just thought "well let's not order that one again!"

Yup I'd love to see some screwtop Chateau Margaux.  But them snooty French will never do it.