Does Your Wine Smell Funky? TCA May Not Be to Blame

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for the Mar. 31, 2011 issue

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Stephanie Cain, Ben O'Donnell
Issue: March 31, 2011

For years, wine fans have raged against TCA, the chemical compound blamed for corked wine. But TCA, or 2,4,6-trichloroanisole, is not the only cause of moldy, earthy, wet cardboard aromas in your wine. Since 2004, scientists have known of another compound—MDMP, or 2-methyoxy-3,5-dimethylpyrazine—that can leach out of corks and into wine, but they haven't understood where it comes from. Wine Spectator's Stephanie Cain and Ben O'Donnell report.

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