While our tongue is only able to detect five basic tastes, our nose is capable of detecting millions of different aromas.

When wine tasting, one of the Five S’s is smell.  You stick your nose into the wine glass and take a sniff. You can get a very quick idea of what the wine will taste like and you may even detect some of the fruit aromas. But very quickly, after just about two sniffs, your nose tends to switch off and become insensitive to further sniffs of the same aromas.

One way wineries and wine tasting rooms will address this issue is to re-set your olfactory system by having you smell coffee beans.  This shifts the receptors in your nose and brain to something completely different. That way, when you sniff your next wine, your sense of smell is reset and once again heightened.

But you may not always have coffee beans with you when you are tasting wines. The one thing that you always have with you is your arm. And it can come in very handy when wanting to reset your nose. Just take a quick sniff of your arm (preferably while not wearing any scented lotions, sunscreen or other scented products). This quickly resets your nose and allows you to get back to smelling the intricate wine aromas.

So, here's to smelling your arm!  And, to being better prepared to experience all the wonderful aromas that wines have to offer  Cheers!