Is there a good way to tell if a botle of wine has become "corked" before opening it?

I'm sure wine drinkers here can appreciate my problem. I like to drink wine, but every now and again, I'll find that the wine has reacted with the cork, resulting in an unpleasant tasting wine. This is, as I have found, is an unpleasant but unavoidable chance occurance when using genuine cork. Some winemakers are avoiding this by using synthetic corks, but on some of the more pricy wines, this is less common. I'm starting to get into pricier wines and was wondering, is there a way to tell before you open or purchase a bottle whether or not it has become corked? This would save me a lot of time and headache in the future!|||There is no way of telling before you open the wine.





About 5% of all wines closed with cork are affected to some extent by the cork. Different people have different perceptions of corkiness*, and once you learn to recognise it, you become more sensitive.





Luckliy more and more wines are becoming closed with high quality screwcaps.





If you get a corked wine, stick thecork back in and return it to your supplier. Ifthey won't replace it (I understand that to do so is not legal in some places in the USA), then write to the winery.





Unless bad corks are returned the winery will not know the problem and will say -- as so many do "oh no, we never get complaints, we have no problems with corks."





*the name for TCA affected corks.|||no .there is no way to tell..but you can avoid to buy cheap wine from your corner shop.|||nope. i just got out of wine studies there's is no way to find out.|||Nope. Because the chemical reaction is internal, there are usually no visable signs.





Some 'spoiled' wine will bleed through the cork, but if the foil wrapper or wax is on it, then you won't be able to tel until you get it home. This wine isn't necesarily corked, techincally, but it may have overheated or something else to make it spoil.





Next time you consider buying a bottle, ask the shop what their policy is on corked wine. Most will replace it for you no problem. Just always have a spare in case a good bottle is corked at a most inopportune time. : )|||Ive read that the 'corked' problem has become more common cause of chlorine cleaning; this process stopped around 1995. if you get a wine after that it should have less chance of being corked (source-The Wine Bible)