This is just a quick note to illustrate the lengths we go to as wine students to train our palates. I mentioned to my teacher yesterday that I was getting a cold, and she calmly told me that it is important to practice tasting wine when you have a cold! And the more I thought about it, the more it made sense. Imagine getting to London to take the test and finding that you cannot smell. What a pisser! ...if you haven't practiced for five years every time you have a sniffle...
There's still a lot you can do to evaluate wine when you cannot smell. Acid still makes your gums water, tannin still grips the roof of your mouth, you can still use the milk-cream test to evaluate body, etc. A friend of mine who is an Australian wine importer (a rare breed if you know any) swear by a shot of mescal to clear the sinuses for a short time. Weirder than his suggestion is the fact that I'm gonna try it. Practice practice!
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