BEWARE - of bad wine!

If a wine looks bad, smells bad and tastes bad, well, chances are it's bad.
There are many flaws that can make a wine "bad".  Here are two of the most common. Be sure to always look for these faults, especially in restaurants, where you are paying super premium prices for your glass or bottle of wine.
Corked wine: If a wine's closure is natural cork, then there is a chance it has "cork taint" - it just happens, even to the world's greatest wines. I will skip the scientific definition of this wine flaw - it's too complicated. Suffice it to say, if your wine smells like wet cardboard or a damp moldy basement, and no longer has any fruit profiles on the palate, it is most likely corked.
Oxidation: This flaw describes wine that has been exposed to air for too long. This can either be from a faulty cork, or from leaving a wine open for too long. The wine's color may have a brownish haze to it - both whites and reds. The wine will smell and taste like Madeira, Sherry of even vinegar. All of the fresh fruit will be gone from the taste of the wine. Watch out for this flaw at restaurants that pour wines by the glass.

Tom