Wine tasting and the impact of medications by (PB)

If you visit our blog frequently you see that I have not posted very much if at all for some time. The reason being I am on medication for an issue and the particular medication messes up my ability to "taste" properly. It's important to note to your self when you are on any kind of medicine--even over the counter--meds as they may have an impact on your taster's ability to do its job.

With over 10,000 views a month on this blog, I am cautious not to impugn a wine carelessly realizing I may be unnecessarily creating diminished sales for a particular producer. For this reason there are all kinds of wines I have never posted my reviews simply because I did not trust the condition of my palate at the time of tasting. An upper respiratory infection (ie., a cold) can have a similar effect on your abilities even before your cold manifested itself with symptoms.

Tip off--if you are drinking a wine that you are at least familiar with the particular grape if not the wine and /or producer and it really seems "ucky" ask someone else to taste it and see if they think it tastes "OK." Sometimes my smeller is in fine shape but then I taste the wine and either the taste is off (eg. bitter when I know the type of wine is not generally bitter, or tart, or sour, or just tasteless or even the mouth feel is rather nasty.) Don't assume the wine is bad--it may be you! One good check is to try a wine with which you are very familiar; if it's kind of blech, forgo your wine experience until you're off the meds. Then raise a glass with confidence!