Montes: music makes wine reach parts it otherwise couldn't reach
May 14, 2008 Richard Woodard
Wine producers could soon be recommending the Rolling Stones with Syrah and Mozart with Merlot after new research found a direct connection between music and the way wines taste.
The study, carried out by Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh for Chilean wine company Montes, suggests that choosing the right background soundtrack could be crucial to getting the most out of specific styles of wine.
Professor Adrian North, who led the research, explained that when a powerful piece of music such as O Fortuna from Carl Orff's Carmina Burana is played, a wine like Montes Alpha Cabernet Sauvignon is perceived as being 60% richer and more robust than when no music is heard.
Similarly, a style like Montes Alpha Chardonnay seems 40% bolder and fresher when accompanied by pop.
A total of 250 adults were recruited on a university campus and offered a free glass of wine in return for answering questions about its taste. They drank the wine in one of five rooms, each of which played a different style of music - or no music - and were then asked to rate the wine's taste according to set parameters.
'It is widely acknowledged within the scientific community that music affects behaviour,' said North. 'However, this is the first time it has been scientifically proven that music can affect perception in other senses and change the way wine tastes.'
The research is based on the theory of cognitive priming, which holds that certain styles of music stimulate, or prime, certain parts of the brain. When wine is tasted, these areas are already active and have a corresponding effect on our perceptions of taste.
Montes founder and winemaker Aurelio Montes already uses music in the production process, playing monastic chants to his maturing casks of wine in his Feng Shui-optimised barrel room. Now the company is investigating the possibility of adding music recommendations to its back labels.
Montes' recommended wine and music matches
Cabernet Sauvignon: All Along The Watchtower (Jimi Hendrix), Honky Tonk Woman (Rolling Stones), Live And Let Die (Paul McCartney and Wings), Won't Get Fooled Again (The Who)
Chardonnay: Atomic (Blondie), Rock DJ (Robbie Williams), What's Love Got To Do With It (Tina Turner), Spinning Around (Kylie Minogue)
Syrah: Nessun Dorma (Puccini), Orinoco Flow (Enya), Chariots Of Fire (Vangelis), Canon (Johann Pachelbel)
Merlot: Sitting On The Dock Of The Bay (Otis Redding), Easy (Lionel Ritchie), Over The Rainbow (Eva Cassidy), Heartbeats (Jose Gonzalez)
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Some of us have known this lore for years. To cool off fast in August when drinking highly acidic whites, especially Chablis, I often listen to Sting. Howard G Goldberg, New York
I have read about miriads of marketing strategies but this one is overtaking the others. Hiring this type of "opinion" to me, exceeds simple willingness to create new markets and entice fans to what you produce. Given the astronomical possibilities of personal taste - gustative and auditive, it is not with mere 250 people that any tendency, if there is even one - could be traced. Two questions haunt me: What would be the tips to wines produced in Australia? Perhaps a djeridoo Philarmonic? and, Have these people ever heard of jazz? Spare me!
Mauro Nahoum
Why stop at music, the equation is missing sex and drugs! Which varietal improves sex and makes it "richer and more robust"? And what drug will enhance the experience and make the wine "bolder and fresher"? If Montes is going to use experiential formulas from the 60's and 70's, why not go all the way?
Charlie Adler, President TasteDC.com, Washington DC, USA
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Richard Woodard
Some of us have known this lore for years. To cool off fast in August when drinking highly acidic whites, especially Chablis, I often listen to Sting. Howard G Goldberg, New York
