Wine & Music
Those who, like me, come from the south or southeast of the Netherlands probably know it; A nice beer goes in in larger quantities during the carnival than during a piano concert. And that is not only because of the Dutch “hossen” and “polonaise” dances, but also because the cozy carnival music encourages you to take an extra beer. This shows that the combination of certain music with an alcoholic snack has an influence on what and how much we drink while listening to it.
That this also applies to the wine & music combination has been demonstrated by a study by Professor Adrian North of the psychology department at Heriot Watt University in Edinburgh in collaboration with the Chilean wine producer Aurelio Montes.
From this research it can be concluded that the type of music we listen to has a decisive influence on how we experience the taste of wine. That these study results give a curious result is evident from the following;
Did you know, for example, that a wine made from the "Cabernet" grape in combination with an epic (heroic) powerful melody increases your taste experience of this wine by around 60% in terms of "tasty" and robustness? And that a Chardonnay wine in combination with cheerful, optimistic pop music comes across as 40% fresher and more powerful?
Below some wine / music combinations recommended by the researchers:
Cabernet Sauvignon> "Honky tonk woman" (Rolling Stones), "All along the watchtower" (Jimmy Hendrix), "Live and let it" (Paul McCartney).
Chardonnay> "Atomic" (Blondie), "Rock DJ" (Robbie Williams), "Spinning around" (Kylie Minogue).
Merlot> “Sitting on the dock of the bay” (Otis Redding), “Easy” (Lionel Ritchie).
Perhaps a nice idea for the hospitality industry to adapt the wines on the menu to the type of music that is usually played in the store...
That classical music and wine can also be an excellent combination is evident from a press release from "The Rotterdam Chamber Orchestra".
“Classic and Wine series"
The "Classic and Wine" series is a very popular concert series from the Rotterdam Chamber Orchestra, where the audience is offered a wine tasting in addition to a classical concert. The series consists of 12 concerts that are organized at different places in the country. For producers and importers, these concerts are an excellent way of promoting a particular wine.
The Italian Mirco Mariotti, wine music developer, coined the term "sensory resonance", borrowed from the physical definition of "resonance". (the concept of vibrations that overlap and thereby create a boost of the base frequencies.)
“If we imagine that our bodies can be simultaneously tuned to different frequency bands (the senses) as a kind of antenna and these are detected by our receptors (rods and cones in the eyes, hair follicles in the nose, taste buds in the tongue ... ), after processing in our brain, they can evoke a memory of a taste, smell or image ...
If it can happen that sound evokes a certain color, or that the taste of something evokes a certain memory. Why can't music enhance a certain taste or smell? "
Two interesting wine / music combinations for the beautiful Sunday afternoons:
Wine: Cabernet Sauvignon ProVino Vigneto San Vito Orsi Colli Bolognesi 2008
Music: Chet Baker & Paul Desmond’s "Autumn Leaves".
Wine: Champagne Bernard Lonclas Millesime 2005
Music: Tina Turner’s "Goldeneye".
And if next time when you open that "special" bottle of wine you have bought and it doesn´t taste like you expected, try changing the background music, maybe it will suddenly taste a lot better!
Roel Peters RP-Vinos USA
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