When you cut the foil capsule on a bottle of wine…this is not what you want to see — significant wine leakage. If wine is getting out, more air than you want is getting in.

I have no way of knowing if poor quality cork, improper bottle corking or improper storage before it got to me is to blame, but it sure is disappointing.

What I do sometimes, to help avoid ruined bottles like this is slip the capsule off (it’s just for looks, it doesn’t protect the wine in any way) and check the bottles in my rack regularly. If I see even a little leakage…the wine gets opened, and consumed, that day. Sometimes it’s still too late, but it is better than what you see above.

Just this sort of leak is the reason I request two bottles per sample when a winery submits wine for review. Because I had the second bottle, I was still able to taste and write about this wine.