A world without odors: how a sommelier from New York lost her sense of smell after COVID-19

A professional sommelier from New York, presumably with a coronavirus, "completely lost her sense of smell." She told the magazine Esquire, how she felt, being in a “world without odors,” and what conclusions she made for herself.

Amanda Smeltz is a professional sommelier. She lives and works in New York. The girl completely lost her sense of smell after presumably having had a coronavirus (she did not do the test, and she had no other symptoms besides fatigue and temperature). “I lost my sense of smell for five to six days. I have never experienced anything like it. It took 12 hours to get used to it. To be sure, I ran my hands over the herbs growing on the windowsill, then brought my fingers to my face and inhaled. Absolutely nothing, - said Amanda. “This is one of my habits: every time I touch plants, I feel proud that I have managed to grow and preserve them in the filthy conditions of Brooklyn. But now I didn’t smell anything: not the smell of thyme, not oregano, not sage, not dill with its distinct sweet aroma. My heart sank painfully. I thought: how to live in a world without odors? "

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The hunch was confirmed when Amanda later uncorked a bottle of Skerlj Malvasia wine. “This is my favorite Friuli wine - tropical, thick, with a rough sourness. I have not felt a single floral note, citrus and salty aromas for which I loved this wine so much. It was confusing. I barely mastered 100 grams, because without the aroma the taste of the wine became somehow insipid, ”the sommelier shared.

“For several days I thought about what life would be like if I lost my sense of smell forever and the herbs with coffee disappeared from my life forever; if I never smelled wine again, ”Amanda continued.

Amanda admitted that her work as a professional sommelier was always accompanied by internal conflict. For her, wine is "a source of joy and learning." And "modern culture passes everything that brings joy through the meat grinder of consumerism." “The world is forcing more time to be devoted to the profit and loss statements of restaurants than to the history and knowledge of winemaking and fermentation. For the most part, I've come to terms with it, in the end, it's the price I pay for the work I love. I receive a salary and have constant access to wonderful things, ”added the sommelier.

But when Amanda lost her sense of smell and stopped feeling wine as such, she "realized that our culture does not teach us to value anything other than enrichment and earnings." “Even after the pandemic once again exposed the economic imbalance of specific businesses, including winemaking and restaurant, I don’t think that society is able to overcome the close connection between wealth and wine,” she said.

When talking about wine, Amanda means a collection wine that is usually bought by middle-aged or older men. Such men go to a certain echelon of restaurants to sell their collections. “I have worked in establishments where collectors were important investors. For many years, the most fashionable wine lists in New York were collected from private cellars. Collectors want their cellars to be noticed and paid at the same time. I suppose they are driven by the desire to seem cooler - such sophisticated connoisseurs, like those who know how to make a fortune at sports betting, ”said Amanda.

The second type of collectors is elderly people who have collected so much wine in their lives that now they have nowhere to put it, so they decided to sell it, said Amanda. “All the same, you can't drink all the supplies, so why not make money on them? In relation to these people, I feel an annoying sadness: all their lives they fill their cellars to capacity, and as a result, their luxurious collection wines turn into vinegar, ”says the sommelier.

For Amanda, working with wine is a pleasure. She says that you just need to get to know the wine better, and a new world will open to you. “You will see how wine changes over time and over time, what prismatic, surreal forms it takes. Your 2017 Burgenland Cabernet Franc rosé - Himmel auf Erden - was pretty good last year. But just a year later, the same wine feels fresher, fuller. It's the same as with people. For example, at 35 you act more decisively than at 34. Perhaps three years later, the same rose wine will become harmonious, magical, acquire a bouquet of berries and spices. Maybe at 40 I will look more beautiful than all the years before. And the wine has the same subtle changes in time, ”said the sommelier.

After opening the bottle, the taste of the wine gradually changes. “Immediately after opening, the wine tastes the same; an hour later it's already another, the next day it's a completely different wine. It is like a peony hat opening under the rays of the sun; with every hour spent under bright rays, the peony reveals 30 new petals, which were previously hidden from your sight, ”explained Amanda.

She compared wine to a living being, which, like a person, changes over time. “Their age is also short-lived. Some wines retain their charm for no more than 24 hours after opening. There are bouquets that open rapidly and then fade quickly. Beauty passes quickly. Anyone who has children understands how this happens, ”she added.

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This story ends well: a week after losing her sense of smell, it returned to Amanda. “I ran my hands over my herbs again, as I did every day, wanting to test its severity. When I smelled sage, a previously unknown relief and joy shot through my heart. Smell and its companion - taste - have an incredible ability: they can reduce everything to bodily earthiness, or they can pave a direct channel to memories and strong feelings. What a privilege, she thought to herself; had I not had the sense of smell, or had I lost it on a permanent basis, this would have ended my work with wine. Only trade and capitalism would remain, ”the girl concludes.

Summing up the results of her "journey into a world without odors", Amanda was strengthened in the thought: wine has an intrinsic value, and therefore monetary value is assigned to it. “And this is not unusual. What I find really stupid is our obsession with accumulating wealth, which we chase into the wine that exists at the intersection of the agricultural and aesthetic worlds. Fill the cellars, find fault with their price, convince as many rich people as possible to buy them. I miss the beauty of wine. I am tired of waiting for such a simple truth to be revealed to people, ”she added.

Amanda believes that the pandemic will force people to look at familiar things from a different angle and rethink them. Perhaps humanity will regain its lost ability to see beauty and be able to share it with friends.

“Of course, money can buy a lot, so there are specialists like me,” says Amanda. - Creating beautiful things requires resources, but we have already crossed the line of need. There were too many resources, and we lost our sense of proportion. I would like to believe that it is possible to deliberately reallocate resources between classes, races, nationalities in order to make beauty more accessible. To some extent, this distribution has reached the wine and restaurant industries; there has been a shift from Napa Valley corporate money and expensive Manhattan restaurants to simple vineyards and kitchen gatherings with friends.

A month before the pandemic broke out, Amanda was visiting a friend. “In the next room, a friend of mine spoke French with a winemaker from the Loire; then a young writer joined them; they had good company. Even though I don't speak French, I enjoyed watching them, ”recalls Amanda. - We drank Chenin Blanc from Gerard's new batch; it was clean, balanced, without botrytis (a noble mold that is used in winemaking to obtain raw materials with increased sugar content and complex rich taste - Ed.), but the same concentrated. Gerard followed my reaction. I said I liked it. He smiled. "

The company quickly drank a bottle of wine, which "warmed from the inside and sealed a pleasant memory." “Wine told me: I am with you, I was created by hard work, I am the salt of the earth, I am yours, I belong to all of you,” says Amanda. - So we sat for an hour. Communication in a pleasant little company does not tire me; on the contrary, only such moments matter. You didn't have to pay for this. These are the memories I keep in mind. And I know for sure that these moments are not subject to time. "