Two days in to the 2007 Old Mutual Trophy Wine Show in South Africa, I’ve just had a most interesting, if slightly scary, experience. I have been judging wine with no sense of smell whatsoever. (My sore throat turned into one of the worst flu-ey colds I can remember.)
I would have thought the whole exercise would be a waste of time but what has been fascinating is to see just how much one can tell about a wine without being able to smell it. Obviously I have not been able to pick out major faults on the...