W I N E T E C H 38 JUNE 2016 THE WOMAN WITH THE MILLION DOLLAR TASTE BUDS Spare a thought for Kiwi wine critic Yvonne Lorkin’s tastebuds. They may be minuscule in the scheme of things, but they are so prized by the wine competition judge that she’s insured them for a cool million. In an industry where having superior smelling and tasting skills is everything, Lorkin’s abilities need to remain in top order to ensure she can continue her profession. So when thinking about insuring her olfactory system for the princely sum of $1 million, she went to Lloyds of London to do it. “When I think about what percentage of my job relies on the integrity of my olfactory system – it’s everything. We simply can’t risk my nostrils or taste buds going on strike,” Lorkin says. “I’m not sure if I’m necessarily genetically any better than most people at smelling or tasting, but where my skills lie is in my ability to actually articulate them to a level that customers can understand and relate to.” The cover is for her nose, palate and throat, and will pay out should the ‘supertaster’ suffer injury or illness which damages their function and prevents her from doing the work she’s trained for. Although taste and smell are separate senses with their own receptor organs, they’re nonetheless intimately entwined. Lorkin is regarded as a ‘super taster’ because she is among the top 10 to 25 per cent of people with hypersensitive taste. And yet it is her sense of smell which defines how effective she is at interpreting those tastes, according to ENT specialist Dr Noel Nicholson. “More than 90 per cent of perceived taste disorders actually turn out to be problems associated with the sense of smell,” he says. “After putting Yvonne through her paces in the University of Pennsylvania Smell Identification Test, which is considered the world standard and certainly the most validated exam of its type, I can confirm she has an excellent sense of smell.” Debbie Sutton, who cofounded Wine- Friend with Lorkin, says her taste buds are irreplaceable. “During my 12 years as a winery owner, I saw wine retailers slowly replacing wine buyers with commercial buyers. The former were usually passionate about wine and had brilliant tasting credentials, while the latter had usually come from another department such as toiletries or pet food. “They were concerned with margins and promotional funding first, and wine quality second. This is a disturbing trend that’s happening both here and overseas.” In the meantime, Lorkin’s tastebuds are hard at work. “You’ve got to love wine to do this job,” she says. “Luckily I do. Enjoying a glass of wine is one of life’s great pleasures and I want to experience and share that with others until the day I die.”
1-48 FT June16
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