Firstly we should say what we really mean, and that is we can only taste sweet, sour, salt, bitter and umami (MSG) and all the rest relies on smell.

A highly trained person can distinguish about 10,000 scents, which of course are nothing when compared with the family dog at 100,000.

Mother Nature must feel that smell is exceedingly important as we can close off sight, put on noise cancelling ear phones and not touch anything, but stop taking in those 23,040 breaths and 438 cubic feet of air in a day and we die!

Five million microscopic hairs in our nose called cilia are constantly sending signals to the olfactory centre in our brain and unlike cells in the brain, eyes and ears, that do not replace themselves once damaged, those in the nose get renewed about every thirty days (taste buds every ten to 14 days).

Unexpectedly my wife read the Mother’s Day version of this column and then went to our shop on Harbor Road in Paget and purchased all the wines that I suggested she would enjoy on this important weekend. She then proceeded to conduct a blind tasting (smelling) for me that included a new wine that I had not tried.

A light golden colour eliminated Pinot Grigio or Sauvignon Blanc and the way it clung to the glass hinted at more body, like that found in Chardonnay and a swirl in the glass to release esters left no doubt to its Chardonnay origin.

Smells of refined French oak (American is more spicy), hazelnuts and minerals certainly caused me to think of White Burgundy and I suggested possibly a Meursault or even a Chablis Grand Cru (we of course stock both), but something in the back of my mind was connecting to the Beringer style that has fooled me in the past. I could not make up my mind, but did know that this wine was destined for my shortlist of favourite whites.

Let me share with you the Parker review: “A 100 percent barrel fermented, new offering is the 2012 Chardonnay ‘Luminus’ from Beringer, which is made from Dijon clones from the Oak Knoll appellation in the cool southern part of Napa Valley.

“A brilliant example of Chardonnay, it comes across as a first-growth Chassagne-Montrachet or Meursault. Aromas of honeysuckle, hazelnut and buttered citrus. Partial, rather than full malolactic preserves a lot of vibrancy and freshness 93/100.” $41.60.

On Monday evening we had a couple of restaurant folks over for dinner and wine tasting and one produced a bottle that was wrapped so that we could not identify it. It was poured and discussed.

We agreed that it was European as it was more restrained than a New World red might be. Brownish and light edges suggested age and I guessed ten years (it was a 2007).

I was troubled as my senses said “Bordeaux” and yet I did not detect the cherry that suggests Cabernet Sauvignon to me (it turned out to be 49 percent Touriga Franca, 34.5 percent Touriga Nacional and 16.5 percent Tinta Roriz).

Whatever it was we all liked it very much.

When unwrapped we saw that it was Post Scriptum de Chryseia “PS” 2007 from Portugal which is a collaboration between Bruno Prats (the P) of Bordeaux fame and Rupert Symington (the S) of Graham’s Port renown.

I was pleased to see that one reviewer stated that it was “the most French of any Portuguese wine”.

The Wine Spectator wrote: “Aromas and flavours redolent of red raspberry and dark cherry are joined by alluring notes of Asian spice. It finished with milk chocolate. Only 600 cases made.”

I guess that I missed the cherry when smelling and tasting, but if you like very tasty Bordeaux, or wish to try a fine wine from Portugal then you can find PS 2007 in our shops for $31.25.

This column is a paid advertorial for Burrows, Lightbourn Ltd. Michael Robinson is Director of Wine at Burrows, Lightbourn Ltd. He can be contacted at mrobinson@bll.bm or on 295-0176. Burrows, Lightbourn have stores in Hamilton (Front Street East, 295-1554), Paget (Harbour Road, 236-0355) and St George’s (York Street, 297-0409). A selection of their wines, beers and spirits are available online at www.wineonline.bm.