Refermented wine anyone?

Last night I hosted a wine pairing dinner at my house. The first red we had with the main course had gone bad. It tasted carbonated and the color was slightly off. People were wondering if the wine was corked, or if the bottle had been stored badly, etc. Here is the answer to last night's problem bottle.

Fine wine is a living thing, the product of controlled fermentation. Occasionally, some residual, dormant yeasts will wake up, and a wine will undergo a second fermentation after it has been released and shipped. This manifests itself as effervescence, or fizziness, on the tongue. Of course, this is desirable in champagne (which is purposely refermented in the bottle in order to create the bubbles), but never in fine still wine.

It's difficult to learn to identify these flaws just by reading about them. Only experience and time will give you the training you need to spot every defect. But if you think a bottle is bad, ask for confirmation. Don't be afraid -- at any reputable establishment the sommelier, waiter, wine cavist, will not take a rejected bottle personally (not that you should care if he or she does).