Six months into 2016 and it’s time to update the cork taint hall of shame – 8.4% so far  this year, and the offending wines are listed.

As usual, these are wines I have opened, from my own cellar, and do not include wines I’ve assessed as too old, so the appalling headline number is understated. The following wines provided zero drinking pleasure.

• 2000 Grongnet Special club champagne- corked – credited by the importer
• 2002 Guy Castagnier clos st denis -corked- replaced by importer with 2011 Pierre Amiot Gevrey Chambertin les combottes 1er
• 1987 Moss Wood special reserve cab sav – corked – replaced by winery with 2013 Moss Wood Cab Sav
• 2007 Dirler Riesling Kessler heisse wanne – oxidised
• 1997 Louis Sipp GWT Osterberg -oxidised
• 1998 Zind-humbrecht Pinot Gris clos Windsbuhl – corked
• 2007 Dirler Riesling Kessler sgn- corked
• 2003 Huet Le Mont demi-sec – oxidized

Alsace continues with its dreadful record of corks interfering with enjoyment of wines.

And worryingly, the few replacements I’ve obtained disappointingly do not provide fair compensation for carefully cellared wines from well-regarded vintages. Certainly a replacement is better than nothing, but the replacements were not of similar calibre to the discarded wines.