Does wine taste different as you get older?

After she turned 60, Californian wine publicist Jo Diaz began noticing that when she tasted wine her sense of smell wasn’t what it used to be. Now aged 68, she says, “It takes me longer to pick up all the parts of a wine’s aromas.

I swirl five times to get what I used to pick up in one sniff. But I’m enjoying the process more.”

Savoring a glass of wine is a pleasure we like to think won’t fade as we get older. Our wine-tasting skills might even get better with time, right? With age, hair turns grey, skin wrinkles, and hearing and vision often deteriorate, so it’s no surprise that the ability to smell and taste can fade, too. Research indicates some of us will be lucky and will hang on to most of the abilities we already have, while others will face a downhill slide in our powers of perception. All this is highly individual and a gradual decline in sensitivity may not always be obvious.


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