The risk of wine suffering 'cork taint' from contaminated new oak barrels is severely under-estimated by coopers and wineries, according to new research. Tests undertaken by analysts including chemist Pascal Chatonnet at Laboratoire Excell in France suggest that there are severalsources of TCA contamination of oak wood – although so far nobody seems to knowwhere it comes from.However, the claims have been rubbished by French coopers association Tonneliers de France, which described them as ‘inaccurate and insulting’.