Corked wine is indeed an actual thing. However, modern knowledge and production methodologies have made it a lot rarer than it used to be. As I described here (in a longer thread about food rituals), I’ve never been served a corked bottle myself, in over thirty years of fine dining.
There’s also some discussion here.
And the result of corking is distinctive and (here is where I disagree with the preceding) unmistakably unpleasant. It’s like old wet cardboard. It doesn’t matter how inexperienced your palate is — if you smell a corked wine, you’ll know it.
Edit to add: I know this because, despite never having been presented a corked wine “in the wild,” I have smelled reproductions of the aroma in a couple of different wine-production facilities and informational exhibitions. This one is particularly excellent.