Tasting wines that have a fault can be as educational as discovering the wines you like. Aroma plays an important part in the wine tasting experience. Yesterday I had the opportunity to taste a faulted wine. It was very difficult to taste because the aroma was very strong of cauliflower and onions. The disagreeable aroma was so intense that many in the group didn’t taste the wine. It was suggested that the wine could be used in tasting rooms as an educational tool. It was a good opportunity to learn about a wine fault.

The winemaker discovered the problem with the wine. Upon further research it was learned that the grower sprayed the vineyard with sulfur two and a half weeks prior to harvest. The directions for the spray state: “Do not apply within a month of harvest.” At home, I’ve often wondered about the “don’t spray for x number of days before harvest” statements. Do they really apply? Here is a case where they really did apply.

Using the wine fault kit, Le Défauts Le Nez Du Vin, I smelled the vial associated with the cauliflower fault. The vile also had a strong onion aroma and was a bit more unpleasing than the wine’s aroma. The kit’s description discussed that only 4mg per liter of dimethyl sulfur was enough to ruin a wine’s aroma. The winemaker stated that he could strip off some of the offending aroma at the risk of stripping off some of the good aromas and tastes of the wine. I agree with those who also suggested that it might be better to leave the wine as it is and use it as an educational tool in the tasting room.

Often many wine enthusiasts and beginners associate a wine they don’t like as being bad. This is clearly not the case. Bad wines are those that have recognizable faults. It would be a positive experience for tasters to be able to sample a faulted wine even if one only notes the wine’s aroma.