A Harmonious Tipple-The Link between Music and Wine

Scenic Cellars recently hosted Jo in Taupo, for two ‘Music and Wine Matching’ sessions as part of the Erupt Lake Taupo Festival. This event was pitched as an educational presentation on how music can alter the perception of a wine’s flavour and texture. Though slightly skeptical, Celeste Bowden went along to investigate.

Article by Celeste Bowden, Scenic Cellars, Taupo. 

Jo Buzynska is not only a respected wine judge, author and journalist, she is also a sound artist and DJ and is as passionate about music as she is about wine.

Over the years, Jo had a hunch that her two favourite passions interacted with each other, but it wasn’t until she really delved into the subject and discovered existing research, that Jo realised the depth of studies that had been carried out on this topic.

To begin with, Jo explains, wine and music share many similarities;

The language associated with both; harmony, depth, tone, etc
Both sound and taste senses are powerful triggers of memories
Both wine and music evoke moods, ie dark brooding red wine/music

So, give me the science Jo:

It’s all about Mood

Research undertaken by Clark Smith, a colourful Californian Wine Maker, shows it’s all about mood; ie matching the right wine with the right piece of music can heighten the experience of both.

In a research paper that he presented to the 2007 Australian Wine Industry Technical Conference in Adelaide, Smith theorised that wine tasting and music appreciation require the same logical processing areas of the brain. Both wine and music activate the brain’s pleasure centres, with areas identifying music overlapping with areas that sense odours. This means there is a possibility that the brain could cross these signals, influencing each other.

Whole above paragraph could be changed to… He also believes that you can take a good guess at what matches will work. Cabernet may well be dark and angry, Pinot Noir romantic and Riesling cheerful. Red wines could be enhanced by soulful music, whereas cheerful, upbeat music might be better suited to white wines.

Jo also believes the experience of both wine and music is quite subjective. She dislikes heavy metal; therefore she is not going to enjoy her favourite wine as much, if this style of music is playing.

Smith’s research showed that although background music influences the taste, wine drinkers did not necessarily like the wine any less or more, it just tasted differently.

Another expert in this area is Professor Charles Spence. His Oxford University research claims that a person’s perception of the flavours of food and drink can be influenced by background music or sounds, ie what music is playing in a restaurant while dining will change this perception. UK chef, Heston Blumenthal, started serving his ‘Sounds of the Sea’ seafood dish, accompanied by an I-pod playing the sound of crashing waves to intensify his customer’s dining experience.

According to a UK study by Music Psychologist, Professor Adrian North, (from Heriot-Watt University), music affects behaviour. Results showed that music can prime certain thoughts and feelings, impacting the perceived taste of the wine to match, ie red wines were more likely to be described as powerful and heavy if powerful and heavy music was played while tasting. You can read more about his research.

To illustrate this point during the Music and Wine Tasting, Jo presented three styles of Chardonnay (Unoaked NZ, Oaked NZ and a French Chablis), which the audience tasted first in silence and then with three styles of music (pop, soul and classical).

Personally I was surprised with the difference. The pop music made the wine taste fruitier, simplifying the tastes of a complex wine. The soul style of music made the wine sweeter and fatter, while the classical style made the wine seem more elegant and refined.

Ian Isaacs (Executive Director, Scenic Cellars) was also in agreement. “The tasting really opened my eyes to how much music influences my own perception of wine”.

Other Research

There has been a lot of other research undertaken in more recent times, with the international wine media embracing the concept of wine and music matching.

The UK Telegraph has it’s own explanation
Snooth regularly blogs about wine and music matching
American Winery opened a website dedicated to matching music and wine
Decanter have reported on this topic, while last year Wine Enthusiast held a wine and music matching competition
Villa Maria recently held a wine and classical music tasting in London
Here is a great article, by W. Blake Gray that summarises a lot of the research on this topic

So What are the Practical Applications of this Research?

A 1997 study (North, Hargreaves & McKendrick) played French and German music in a supermarket. When French music was playing, they found French wine outsold German wine by 5 bottles to one. When German music played, the German wine outsold French wine, two bottles to one.

Similarly a study in 1993 (Areni & Kim) played classical music and pop music in a wine cellar. Stereotypically, the belief was that classical music conjured up thoughts of sophistication and affluence. Consequently, when classical music played, customers bought more expensive wines than when pop music was playing.

The genre, tempo, and volume of music can also affect how long consumers linger in stores and restaurants, how much they purchase or consume, and if they view certain brands more favourably than others. It is shown that slower music will slow down traffic flow, meaning customers shop for longer or spend more time eating and drinking, therefore spending more.

Guests enjoying Wine and Music Tasting Jo raises a great point – establishments will spend a lot of effort on their food and wine list and employ experts to design the décor, but often pay little attention to the music they play.

What really summed it up for me was when Jo served up the Wooing Tree Beetle Juice Pinot Noir 2007, matched with Billie holiday’s ‘God Bless the Child’. This match was suggested to Jo by a New Zealand Pinot Noir winemaker, who is also a musician. The sweetness and smoothness of the Pinot Noir, perfectly matched the tone of Billie’s voice. Definitely a great match, this helped cement the whole wine and music matching philosophy.

So next time you are sipping a glass of vino, take a minute to listen to the music in your surroundings. Then you can decide for yourself whether or not it is a harmonious match.

Kindly republished with permission by Celeste Bowden (Scenic Cellars) (c) 2010

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