Smelling the Wine Cork?
Q. Do you need to smell the cork after opening a bottle of wine?
A. No! You only need to LOOK at the cork. The cork needs to be wet on one end and dry on the other. The wet end tells you it was stored on its side (or upside down) which keeps the wine touching the cork and keeps oxygen out. The dry side tells you that the wine was stored in a cool, dry place and not overheated. If the bottle gets too hot, the cork could dry out, shrink, and allow oxygen in. So don’t make the rookie move and sniff the cork. You should however, sniff, swirl, and sip the wine.