James Laube courtesy of Wine Spectator

Last month long-time Wine Spectator Napa bureau chief James Laube passed away at age 73. Plenty of well-deserved ink has been spilled over Laube’s impact on California wine. I am here to pay tribute to another aspect of Laube’s career: his focus on cork taint.

Laube highlighted the issue of cork taint with an impressive focus during his time at Wine Spectator, which he began writing for in 1980. Cork taint is a contaminant that can make a wine smell muted at best or like a moldy basement at worst. (Read all you ever wanted to know about cork taint.)

In the early aughts, Laube wrote about systemic issues at Beaulieu Vineyard, Hanzell, and Chateau Montelena. Laube was criticized in some circles for highlighting the issue in such prominent producers’ wines, given that he could detect cork taint at a much lower level than most. That criticism did not age well, as research has shown that even low levels of cork taint impact people’s enjoyment of wine. Laube wrote about those findings in a 2013 article.

Wine Spectator’s Napa office tracked cork tainted bottles of wine from 2005 on. Laube regularly reported on the findings until he retired in 2019.

“Corks worse problem as price increases” Laube wrote in 2008. There, Laube refuted the notion that cork taint is more prevalent in less expensive wine. (I have seen the same in my tastings.)

“Cork taint is still with us,” Laube stated in 2010. That year he noted that 6.9% of the wines that he tasted for review appeared to be faulted by the contaminant. Many were likely shocked by that number. (My numbers from around that time were similar.) “Cork taint in California wines hits new low” he reported in 2013, when he saw 3.7% of wines tainted.

Readers of this site likely know that eradicating cork taint in wine is a subject near and dear to my heart. I have been writing about the subject for more than 15 years. I never had the pleasure of meeting James Laube. However, I saw in him a kindred spirit in the battle against cork taint.

Laube’s persistent focus on the issue of cork taint helped keep wineries and cork suppliers accountable for an issue that negatively impacts consumers’ enjoyment of wine. Unfortunately, despite all of the attention, the issue of cork taint persists.

However, there have unquestionably been improvements. Laube deserves a measure of credit for that. The battle against cork taint will continue, but James Laube’s efforts will be missed.

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