Sniffing out defects in wine: There's an app for that

St. Helena, Calif. - Nail polish, solvent, bruised apple, rotten egg, natural gas, garlic, rancid butter, Band-Aid, barbecue, mouse urine, wet cardboard, burned match, bell pepper, vinegar: These are all the telltale smells of defects in wine , and Susan Langstaff, a quirky sensory evaluation expert from Vinquiry, led participants at the 2012 Symposium for Professional Wine Writers at Meadowood Napa Valley through a rollicking session about funky smells and their sources.

Probably the most widely known funky smell is the wet cardboard of TCA , which infects corks and wooden surfaces in wineries. You'd think a good scrubbing with chlorine-based cleaner would get rid of this wine killer. But no, it actually feeds on chlorine.

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