What does TCA smell like?

• A. Musty cardboard, wet basement
• B. Fresh cut grass
• C. Rotten eggs
• D. Vanilla

Answer: (A)

TCA is the cork taint compound that gives wines a musty, moldy, damp odor. The description that best fits this scent is musty cardboard or a wet basement, which captures that damp, cellar-like aroma you get with TCA. Other scents point to different faults or aromas—fresh cut grass is a green, grassy note; rotten eggs signal sulfur compounds; vanilla comes from oak-derived vanilla notes. So the musty, damp smell is the hallmark clue for TCA.