A MOUTH TO INSURE: AFTER EDOARDO RASPELLI WHO INSURED HIS TASTE AND SMELL SENSES FOR 500.000 EUROS, THE NEW ZEALAND FIRM WINE FRIEND HAS INSURED THE TASTE SENSE OF ITS CHIEF TASTING OFFICER, YVONNE LORKIN, FOR ONE MILLION DOLLARS

It is not the first time, since for 16 years, Edoardo Raspelli, one of the leading Italian food critics has insured his taste buds and sense of smell for 500.000 Euros, with a 3.000-euro annual policy. Now, Yvonne Lorkin, one of the best-known wine writers in New Zealand and Chief Tasting Officer of Wine Friend (www.winefriend.co.nz), an innovative e-commerce platform, has upped the ante, ensuring her taste buds for 1 million dollars.
Actually it was Wine Friend’s idea, which considers Yvonne Lorkin’s sense of taste a real asset, capable of guiding and satisfying their subscribers. The insurance covers nose, palate and throat, and insurance company, Lloyds of London, will pay in case of an accident or illness that damages their function and prevents Lorkin from doing her job.
Smell and taste are closely linked, and Yvonne Lorkin is one of those people with a hypersensitive sense of taste, but it is the nose that interprets flavors, as “over 90% of changes in the perceived taste turn out to be connected with the sense of smell”, explained the specialist, Professor Noel Nicholson, “and Yvonne Lorkin’s sense of smell is excellent, as demonstrated by the results of the University of Pennsylvania Smell Identification Test”.
Everything revolves around taste buds and nose, as Lorkin said, and “all of my work depends on how well my taste buds and nose work. I do not know if they work better than those of other people, but certainly, my skills depend on them”.