Untimely wine tragedies comes in several shapes and sizes, from the unfortunate brown-bag bottom-out to broken-cork mishaps to the dreaded 'corked' bottle. In this week's Wine Protips video, Patrick Cappiello, Wine Director at GILT Restaurant, explains a bit of the science behind cork taint and teaches us how to sniff it out in your wine.

Did you know that up to 8% (and some studies say even 10%) of wine bottled with a natural cork is infected? That means that if you've bought a case or two for a holiday party, there's definitely a chance that one of the bottles is bad—seriously musty or just nowhere near as delicious as it could be. (Sometimes cork taint makes your wine taste and smell like damp cardboard, but sometimes it just muffles and mutes the flavors of the wine.) Don't let a bad bottle croak on your Saturday night plans!

The moral of the story, at least for me: always keep a spare bottle handy. Here's to happy uncorking!

More Wine Protips Videos:

How To Swirl Wine

Why Smell Wine?

How To Send Wine Back Without Looking Like A Jerk

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