Corked
"Corked" is a tasting term meaning that the beverage in question has an off-smell or off-taste that is recognized as having come from a defective (moldy) cork in the bottle. Moldy corks look exactly the same as good corks, both at the time of bottling and when the bottle is opened several months or years later. Their defect is discovered only when the wine is smelled or tasted. This is the reason (the ONLY reason) that the wine steward pours a small sample for tasting by the diner to approve prior to pouring the wine for the other guests around the table. If the taster finds the wine to be "corked," the steward should also smell the glass of wine to confirm the corky defect -- then bring the diner a replacement bottle. Spoiled bottles of wine due to moldy corks are not uncommon, often about 1 percent of a given winery's bottling. The off taste is hard to describe, but easy to recognize once the taster knows what it is. Some describe it as wet cardboard, others wet dog. Some tasters are not sensitive to the off flavor and might not even notice it, others are highly sensitive.