How can you tell the difference between wine you don't like and wine that's off?

Good question – I’ve wondered the same thing. I will send back wine if it has a really strong vinegary taste; particularly if it is a type of wine I’ve had before.

If you’ve smelled or tasted vinegar, you’ll know wine that’s gone bad. I’ve sent back a bottle or two, and I did have to think about it – took me a few sips. But the vinegar was there. It was just too funky.

I make my own wine. I end up with vinegar from time to time. Some of it I reserve for cooking, some just gets dumped.

When I go out, my feeling is if I would not serve it to someone, I will not accept someone serving it to me. And there is a lot of my wine that I won’t serve.

Signs that a wine has oxidized / gone bad include: tastes like vinegar, inside of cork is dry and crumbly (that’s why waiters show you the cork – not to have you smell it).

It is actually acceptable to send back a bottle of wine that you simply don’t like. However, you should be prepared to explain to the waiter what you like and don’t like, and to ask for recommendations before ordering blindly. Then, if you don’t like it, the waiter shares responsibility for getting you a bottle that you like.

^ GA.

@Captain_Fantasy

vinegar and mushroom—- not good

Don’t drink a wine you don’t like. It doesn’t matter if it went bad or is not to your taste. If you don’t like it, don’t drink it. Send it back and ask for something different.

My rule of thumb is that if it’s a bottle of white, it doesn’t make a difference if it’s off or not because I have yet to find a white I like. I can’t even swallow many of them!

Wine you don’t like offends the palate,wine that’s corked or “gone off” gives off an odour that reveals all you need to know before it gets anywhere near your mouth.

Yes, I can smell and taste wine that seems moldy or vinegary. If I suspected something was off then I’d definitely ask the server to look into it. Restaurants would rather you send a bottle back/exchange than not say anything at all and not enjoy yourself, at least ones I’ve worked in and been a patron of.

South Australian vintners in the Barossa Valley area, which primarily
produce Pinot Blanc, Pinot Noir and Pinot Grigio wines, have developed
a new hybrid grape that acts as an anti-diuretic!

It is expected to reduce the number of trips older people have to make
to the toilet during the night.

The new wine will be marketed as:-

PINO MORE