Covid & Wine

October 26th, 2020 | Covid 19

One of the first, and most common signs that you might have Covid is, apparently, the sudden loss of taste and smell. The actual cause of this is not yet fully understood (although scientists do have their theories), but it is a symptom that can last for varying amounts of time – from weeks to months. The virus attacks the olfactory neurons and in some cases can destroy them completely, resulting in total loss of smell and taste. The only good news is that these neurons can regenerate, albeit this can be a long, slow process.

As a former wine buyer myself, I know that I was always a bit obsessive about avoiding colds and flu in winter. Effectively this would render me almost completely useless and unable to do my job (which obviously involved a lot of travelling and tasting). This was my nightmare scenario.

I can’t imagine therefore, what it might be like to lose these senses completely, especially when they can take years to train. My biggest concern would always be that if you did lose these senses completely, would they be as sensitive as they were before when they return? I do know, for example, that (because of my life in wine), I have a highly developed sense of smell and taste and can pick up on things in daily life that other people just don’t notice. Of course, this can be both a blessing and a curse, especially if it is a smell that is not too pleasant!

Perhaps a simple and effective Covid test for me might just be to smell and taste wine as often as I can? On this basis, at the moment, I am probably averaging about 45 Covid tests per day….

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