The Nose Knows Fine Wine!

Birds do it! Bees (wasps) do it! And of course dogs do as well. Do what? Use their sense of smell. They do it so well that they are being trained to do some pretty amazing tasks. Wasps
could be trained and very cost effectively at that, to detect toxic chemicals and explosives. That would make for an interesting scenario at our international airports. Instead of sniffer dogs you would see inspectors walking around with jars of wasps. Birds also have a strong sense of smell. It turns out they use their sense of smell to detect possible predators. Our dear dogs are being trained to detect the nasty vine mealy bugs which have become a challenging problem in California vineyards. It is quite obvious that in every case this is part of their genetic make up. It comes naturally so to speak. I am sure momma and papa wasp aren't taking time out to teach the little ones. By the way that is my little dog Maddie in the picture. Click on the pic. to get a closer look at what she is doing. I am teaching her to detect TCA in my wines. So what is all the buzz and surprise about our sense of smell and taste being part of our genetic makeup? An interesting article by Dan Berger over at Appellation America discusses how recent research has come up with the idea that our genes may be a factor in how we smell and taste our wines. Really now? So perhaps who you are will determine whether or not you should pay attention to Parker points or any other subjective point system. Speaking of Robert, has he been blessed with an abundance of smelling and tasting genes? They say that as you get older your sense of smell and taste are likely to be less intense. So does that mean he will be retiring soon? After all he will be turning 61 this July. And how about that $1 million insurance policy he has on his nose and palate? Will his insurer be taking a second look at his coverage? If your genetic makeup plays a large role in what you can taste and smell how do you insure your genes? Just some points to ponder. In the meantime drink what you like and like the wines you drink.