Occasionally you might hear someone complain to the waiter that their wine is "corked" when they find a few fragments of cork adrift in the bottle or their glass.

Well, it probably is corked, but not in the true sense of the word. Genuinely corked wines have a musty smell and taste that comes from mould that has formed on the cork.

At the risk of sounding blasphemous, cork is an imperfect medium when it comes to sealing bottle necks. It has its faults, and the first thing that gets through those faults is oxygen. Mould flourishes and you have the beginnings of a spoiled wine.

Between 3-8% of bottles of wine are corked (more in some countries). Some innovative wine producers have grown tired of the "wet cardboard" pong and seeing it reflected in the bottom line and are now testing plastic corks and screw caps. Research has shown that wine matures in the bottle just as well using either of these.

The Margaret River wineries have not yet made the move to synthetic stoppers, but many are seriously considering it. Tradition likes the ritualistic "pop" of pulling a cork, even at the risk of a flat and insipid drop to follow.

Another rather unpleasant component that may waft out of wine are the noxious fragrances associated with the presence of sulphur.

Margaret River winemakers are generally very careful about the levels of sulphur dioxide (SO2) they use to protect their wines from bacteria and oxidisation. Alas, the same cannot be said for some of the winemakers of the countries in southern Europe, which shall remain nameless.

When sulphur dioxide combines with wine it can also form hydrogen sulphide (H2S) and mercaptans, its associated sulphur compounds. H2S will give off a distinctive rotten egg aroma, while mercaptans can reek of anything from old garlic to burnt rubber.

The good news is that sulphur problems are very rare in Margaret River wines, due to highly refined and scientific winemaking methods.