By Michael C

While red wine is getting very common in daily meals, more and more drinkers are questioning “What is a faulty wine”. So let’s talk about it!

隨著紅酒越來越普及，越來越多人問：究竟咩叫壞咗嘅酒？

First of all, for wine beginners or occasional drinkers, there is a big difference between the wines that you don’t like and the wines that are not in a good shape! One has to taste enough varieties of wine to identify natural aromas and faulty tastes. The most common thing I have heard from beginners is “sourness” means faulty, which is quite an unfair statement. There are loads of wine with lemony, zesty sourness in it, and you can use the more professional term “acidic / acidity” to describe it. There is, however, one type of sourness that would generally indicate a faulty wine. It is vinegar-taste, or what we might call fermented taste. Even if you love your vinegar on your chips, it is not normal to find vinegar-like fermented taste in wines, and that generally indicates abnormality. 

首先，對紅酒初學者來說，要試過好多不同種類的紅酒先可以分辨出壞酒的味道，好多人誤以為「酸就係壞咗」，但其實所有紅酒都有一定的酸度，有d品種酸度特別高，可能有檸檬、番茄、話梅、或者好簡單酸提子嘅酸味，並唔代表質素差或者壞咗。不過，如果你發現有「醋酸味」，咁就有機會係壞咗。醋味係有發酵過的味道，同一般天然水果酸味唔同，一般來說好少在紅酒出現，所以有醋味的話，可能支酒因為存放欠佳而壞咗。

Another clue of faulty wine would be the colour. Red wine has a wide spectrum of red colours, from purple-ish to orange-ish, from light pink to bloody dard red. If you see a brown-ish colour, then you probably need to think about it. Have a sniff, have a sip, and see whether it has the vinegar-like fermented taste we mentioned. If it does, then you could probably consider it a faulty one. 

另一個壞酒的特點，係顏色。一般紅酒的顏色，由紫紅到橙紅，粉紅到血紅都有，但好少會有啡色，如果支酒倒出來係啡色的話，咁你可以再聞下飲下，試試有無頭先講嘅醋味，有的話，就好可能壞咗la。

Despite what we have said, it is actually not a problem to drink faulty wine, as in you won’t get ill or health problems! It just doesn't taste as good as it should be. But if you still like it, then it is not a problem at all! Afterall, it is a personal preference. It can indeed attract a certain type of drinkers who appreciate that specific unique taste! So, instead of thinking whether the wine has gone bad, think about whether you enjoy it or not! If you do, then cheers!

不過講到最後，其實壞咗嘅酒係飲得ga！佢只係無原本應有的水準，味道變咗，但只要你欣賞的話，其實係無問題ga，唔會「飲壞肚」ga！所以，與其諗支酒有無壞，不如諗，你鐘唔鐘意支酒，鍾意就飲得ga la～ 如果唔鍾意，就算我話你知無壞，你都唔會飲la～