COVID & Wine Tasting

[JamieAdelaide]

Yep, the pandemic that continues to give! Caught COVID in the UK and no taste or smell for the last two weeks. Everything else was mild symptom wise. I’ve cancelled Michelin restaurant appointments ( not charged ) and my last bottle of Bruno Giacosa was like cranberry juice in texture. Has anyone suffered similar longer term symptoms? Or how long did you take to get back into wine after a bout of COVID?

[Ian S]

Are you sure it's not just the tasteless food here

There was quite a long thread on Wine pages covering this topic, though it's probably mostly centred around the earlier variants. Still, it should give some insight into timelines, which from memory varied a lot. Search for Covid and it should come up.

[JamieAdelaide]

Foods been great. Doesn’t matter so much now. Yeah that’s a long thread not very specific on taste and smell on first perusal. Cheap drinker now. Tesco Rioja’s seem the best- palate richness and easy flowing texture. Faustino Gran Riserva a bit of a steal at 15 quid.

[Ian S]

Yes that Faustino the only wine I'd call a bargain in Sainsburys, so makes sense that Tesco have also muscled in. Both have very few wines to excite us lot.

[JamieAdelaide]

Faustino GR has been a life saver once before. Four weeks touring Ireland and I was shocked by two things. Wine prices and how wonderful fresh Irish Guinness is. So every day a pint of Guinness at a wonderful local and a bottle of Faustino Riserva ( shared ) over dinner. It was a fair price in Ireland. Oh and a bottle of Faustino tonight and I’m celebrating the fact it’s corked- taste is returning!

[Andrew Jordan]

Jamie,

Yes have suffered the same symptoms as you, though hopefully they don't last as long as I had them. Managed to get COVID early on and completely lost taste and smell for over a year. Depressing times like you describe above. BUT it was only until I got COVID a second time a couple of months ago that my sense of taste and smell has returned. My first glass of red was such an amazing experience and I now appreciate smells and tastes a lot more.

Hopefully your senses come back soon!

[Scotty vino]

I lost taste and smell for about 3 days . It came back slowly.
The first day out of ISO I went to Hugh Hamilton for a taste. All the wines (the reds in particular ) smelled like sesame oil. It was very bizarre.
What was also strange was the non ALC palate cleanser they gave me up front. had a sprig of rosemary in it and that smelled just like rosemary.
Could of misfiring synapses perhaps ?

The Olfactory system very much taken for granted. Ask Michael Hutchence.

[Croquet King]

Interesting topic - I found out I had covid when drinking a bottle of Rockford Sparkling shiraz.
It was Mothers day and we were outside and I'm drinking it thinking this bottle is terrible. No taste, no flavour just really bland.

I felt a bit sick but not a lot - went inside and did a RAT and bang positive.

[A_Steady]

drinking a bottle of Rockford Sparkling shiraz.
It was Mothers day and we were outside and I'm drinking it thinking this bottle is terrible. No taste, no flavour just really bland.

No need for a second rat test, a black Shiraz with no taste, no flavour and bland……

[JamieAdelaide]

Geez AJ that’s cruel. A whole year! I’m getting a little bit of taste and smell back but only for the strong and overpowering- a week ago snicking my nose in a jar of Vegemite and nothing whereas now I can smell the pungency of the brewer’s yeast. Wine-wise Rioja is OK, and at a nice dinner at the RAF Club in London last night the bottom Vin de Pays sufficed and I had enough residual taste to deduce it was average wine. The Spifite pint delivered more flavour.

[mjs]

I think I was lucky. Had Covid about 8 weeks ago now. Really just a sore throat and a bit of a stuffed up head, was pretty good after 3-4 days. Unfortunately though, I seem unable to shake a continued and annoying chesty cough since then. Fortunately, no impact on taste or smell.

[felixp21]

Anecdotal experience would suggest that you rest as much as possible if you have post-Covid symptoms. There is highly likely a direct correlation between immediate post-Covid exercise and onset of long Covid. Gym-junkies are especially prone to this, I have seen dozens of cases, varying from mild but annoying to severe and very debilitating.
So beware, loss of smell is a post-Covid symptom, start spending ur days watching TV.
Formal medical publication wrt this expected late this year, probably in the Lancet.

[JamieAdelaide]

Thanks Felix. Interesting. I’m not gym junkie here, however after being repressed by the great COVID panic for the last few years, I didn’t slow down too much when I caught it.

I’m back in Australia and will try a few old Noons tonight. See where I am at with the sensories.

Flights were chockers. A380’s driving football like crowds at overwhelmed customs staff. A dozen Barolos they were not interested in processing duty for.

[felixp21]

haha, yep, my brother a QF 380 captain, reckons every last flight overbooked, he's never seen anything like it, and he's been up there 37 years!!