Hard Wired

Some would have us believe that all senses are equal. Some live their lives deficient in one or other senses while some, those synaesthetics amongst us, get their senses delivered to them rather muddled.

Those whose work demands an acute sense of smell recognise that smell is the most important sense of the lot. Smell stops us from eating foods that will kill us, it is vital in the ability to taste and to release life enhancing endorphines and it is highly important in the development of memories.

Unlike the rest of our senses, smell is hard wired to the areas of the brain most associated with emotion and memory. These most fundamental functions of the brain depend on smell and are responsible for the ability to hold memories, both positive and negative, for long periods.

I was reminded of this earlier this week in a most unglamorous way. I was making some lunch and upon opening a tin of tuna, was transported back to the age of 4. Our next door neighbour at that time, Joyce, had a cat and when she was away I would eagerly accompany my mum to go and feed her. The smell of that whiskas was rather similar to tuna!

Smell has the power to resurrect memories that you thought were long since forgotton and it has the ability to enhance any occasion by providing context.

I’m privileged to have spent time in the vineyards where the grapes for Our Fathers are grown and no glass passes my lips without vivid recollections of vineyard walks, scorched red earth and the faint hint of eucalypt in the air.

But you don’t need to have travelled to the Barossa to understand this. Open a bottle of Our Fathers, take a big glass, let it breathe. Make some awesome food and gather some great friends and soon you will be creating new memories that will always be linked to the smell of great wine.

And of course, you will also be helping someone else who is in less fortunate circumstances than you.