This means there are people out there drinking a product that is not up to our standards. This invisible chemical compound forms when naturally occurring molds in the bark of cork-bearing oak trees combine with chlorine during the sanitation process. At very low levels, TCA simply mutes a wine's aroma and flavor, sometimes so subtly that the average consumer may not even detect it. On the other hand, higher levels are impossible to miss, rendering a wine undrinkable, with odors as offensive as a musty basement or rotting newspapers. By replacing chlorine washes with hydrogen peroxide, and improving quality control, cork producers have considerably reduced the incidence of TCA in recent years.
Estimates vary as to the extent of the problem.
But no matter whether the taint rate is as low as 1 percent or as high as 7 percent, winemakers around the world are fed up with TCA and, much to the Portuguese cork producers' chagrin, have begun experimenting in earnest with alternatives. And choices abound. And Peak Wines is finding that its alternative efforts are going over well in the marketplace. Maybe consumers are not as against synthetics as we had thought. You may also subscribe online here .