It was January 2009. I was in Rust, Austria, attending ‘Wine Bootcamp’, a.k.a. the MW Stage 1 residential seminar.
The classroom at the Weinakademie in Rust, January 2009
It started as a kind of dull ache: almost as if my teeth had been filed too thin. This then progressed to a tingling, electric sensitivity that flared when air hit the teeth. It felt like ice-cold air rushing over exposed nerves. Every sip became tender.
If you’ve ever done extended periods of wine tasting yourself, you’ll probably recognise this scenario.
This was the first time I had tasted so long and so intensively.
My Diploma lessons had happened once a week; there had never been more than one day at a time of bathing my unsuspecting enamel in acid. This was different. And once we reached Paper 3 practice, i.e. when the sweeties and fortifieds came out to play, the additional component of sugar made the pain excruciating. And it wasn’t as if I could head home after that week and vow not to do this again. With many more stints of tasting practice and days of judging on the horizon, I had to take action.
So what did I do?
Being a member of jancisrobinson.com, I decided to start there by exploring the forum discussions. One thread recommended a product called ‘GC Tooth Mousse’, a casein (milk protein) based paste which floods enamel with calcium and phosphate, building a mineral shield that resists wine’s acids. It also reduces sensitivity by blocking tubules where nerves are exposed.
My dentist cousin fully endorsed the product – and, since I was grinding my teeth at night anyway and needed a custom mouth guard to wear, we decided to kill two birds with one stone and I started to fill the newly-made mouth guard with the paste to wear overnight the day before a big tasting.
So that was 2009. What do I do now?
In the nearly seventeen years that have passed since my GC Tooth Mousse revelation, I’ve realised that there are several aspects to all things mouth-related when tasting wine as a professional. Here’s what I’ve learned. Read it carefully so that you can avoid the trial and error yourself!
1. Keep your palate neutral before you taste
Most of us already know that we need to avoid strong flavours before tasting wine – but it can be tricky to know exactly what to eat, and it can also be tricky to deal with the minty flavours of most toothpaste. This article in Harpers (an excellent read) suggests that we ought not to brush our teeth at all on the morning of a tasting, but quite frankly I wouldn’t want to subject people to my ‘dragon breath’ as my husband calls it, so I’ve switched instead to using an unflavoured toothpaste – in fact I use it every morning because I find that the mint flavour of toothpaste ruins my enjoyment of food as well as wine. If you’re interested, it’s this one. Or you can even use GC Tooth Mousse as a pre-tasting toothpaste – but as it’s on the pricey side, I tend to reserve it just for the fortification part!
You might also find this exchange helpful – this was with a student about to sit the WSET Diploma D3 exams. You can read the post about this + comments on Instagram here.
2. Minimise staining
Some staining is inevitable, but you can minimise this by wiping down your teeth with water and a soft cloth immediately after tasting (don’t brush immediately as your enamel will be too soft and you could potentially damage it), and then after a couple of hours brushing with a sonic toothbrush. I’ve found sonic toothbrushes to be more effective at minimising stains than regular manual or electric toothbrushes.
Me on an MW trip to Argentina in 2018. Photo 1 pretty much sums up the day 😂 whilst photo 2 shows the results…
3. Protect that precious enamel (once it’s gone, it’s gone 😭)
At night I’m not concerned about a minty taste, so in the evening I brush my teeth with a 5000ppm fluoride toothpaste. This is brilliant for protecting teeth, especially when used regularly – and DON’T rinse your mouth with water after you’ve brushed. Let the fluoride stay on your teeth to work its magic. You’ll need to get it on prescription from your dentist, but hopefully they’ll be happy to oblige when you tell them what you do to your poor enamel on an ongoing basis 😂
I no longer wear the GC Tooth Mousse overnight before a tasting – it didn’t feel super comfortable. I’ve since discovered that wearing it for just an hour in the morning (in a mouth guard ideally, to keep it held against the teeth) is just as effective in preventing enamel erosion and sensitivity. When I take it out, I then brush with my unflavoured toothpaste to get rid of the final vestiges of dragon breath 🐉 😆
While tasting, you can regularly rinse your mouth with still water to dilute the acid, and when the tasting is done you can chew a xylitol or other sugar-free gum (I use this one) to neutralise the acid whilst you wait for enough time to pass before you brush your teeth. I’ve heard that the GC Tooth Mousse manufacturers, Recaldent, also make a gum but I haven’t yet explored where I can buy that. If you find out, let me know! The Harpers article mentioned above recommends milk or cheese. And if you feel like it you can even pop your GC Tooth Mousse on again post-tasting.
As an aside, I’m currently undergoing Invisalign orthodontic treatment so I’m not going to be able to use my custom mouth guard for much longer as my teeth will be shifting position. I’ll have to try instead to fit it into the aligner trays – if you follow me on Instagram you’ll no doubt see me reporting back on how that goes!
OK, to sum up, here’s the TL;DR of wine tasting + oral care according to Anne McHale MW:
➡️ Maintain a neutral palate pre wine-tasting; use an unflavoured toothpaste like Oranurse (or at least a non-minty one) and eat plain-tasting food
➡️ Brush at night with a high-fluoride (5000ppm) prescription toothpaste to fortify enamel, using a sonic toothbrush to minimise staining. DON’T rinse your mouth after you’ve brushed – let the fluoride work its magic.
➡️ Prep teeth on the morning of a tasting with GC Tooth Mousse in a mouth guard or shield to keep the paste in contact with the teeth
➡️ Rinse with water during tastings and chew a xylitol or other sugar-free gum like Pur gum when the tasting’s over
➡️ Wipe down your teeth with a soft cloth if you’ve been tasting highly-pigmented wines – helps reduce staining
I hope this was a helpful read.
Since I started taking this seriously in 2009 I am happy to report that so far my teeth are still in pretty good shape, and I haven’t experienced that excruciating sensitivity for a long time!
Taste well, my friends. And if you’re a wine student: as always, to your exam success 😁🥂
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