Covid-19 takes away the senses of wine tasters: "It was like a black hole"

Read the video transcript here

Smell and taste - the oenologist Sophie Pallas relies on these sensory skills.

But it was precisely these skills that she lost in the course of a Covid19 infection:

Sophie Pallas / oenologist

“It was like a black hole, it was like going blind with my sense of smell.

For me it was an absolutely terrible feeling, a complete loss of my orientation.

What comes with the loss of the sense of smell is the loss of the sense of taste.

Apart from the fact that wine no longer evoked the same feelings and pleasure, since I could only determine the taste of alcohol and acidity. "

Pallas was forced to retrain her sense of smell and taste.

She also smelled spices, vanilla pods and coffee beans.

She can now identify the dominant aromas in the wine again, but she still has difficulties with the deeper, more complex notes.

Like her, many wine experts fared.

The champagne manufacturer Charles Philipponnat was also sick with Covid-19, he was even in an artificial coma for a week.

He is dependent on recognizing the finest nuances of aroma, his finest products cost around 600 euros per bottle.

Charles Philipponnat / champagne maker

“I haven't completely lost my sense of taste or smell, but there were things that I tasted differently, certain aromas that I could normally taste and discover while I lost others.

And even today there are some things that I taste better than others, and they are now gradually coming back. "

90 percent of his sense of smell and taste is now back.

According to a survey by the Oenologists' Association among experts, more than a third were impaired in their ability to work due to a Covid 19 disease.

The French wine industry is concerned.

Didier Fages / President of the Association of Oenologists

"It's like a musician who has lost his instrument. Can we ask a musician to play the violin without? You need to know that the sense of smell and taste, the diseases associated with them, are ageusia, loss of taste, and anosmia, the loss of smell , which are essential functions for the exercise of our profession. "

The French oenological association is now calling for a vaccination priority for wine tasters, as otherwise they would have to fear for their livelihood.