Music influences the taste of wine

Music playing in the background can influence how we experience a wine. Research by psychologist Adrian C. North from Edinburgh University, Scotland found that music perceived by listeners as powerful, refined, refreshing, or mellow could make the same wine seem to express those qualities more strongly.

Earlier research also showed that customers exposed to classical music in a wine store chose more expensive wines than those hearing Top 40 music, suggesting that musical associations such as elegance and sophistication can influence purchasing decisions.

Inspired by these findings, I explore the relationship between wine and music and have developed a methodology that connects wine attributes with specific compositional techniques. It translates characteristics such as elegance, intensity, freshness, complexity, structure, and warmth into musical elements including key, tempo, rhythm, harmony, dynamics, ostinatos, rubato, and melody.

Based on this approach I create original solo-piano pieces that are tailored to a particular attribute. Rather than just selecting background music each composition is designed to create a more immersive tasting experience.

Here is an example: Xau - which is composed in the key of F minor is an approach to describe the wine Chardonnay, the most planted wine grape on earth. My hypothesis is that Chardonnay pairs with music written in the key of F minor such as the solo piano piece Xau.

The dignified and yet fresh Chardonnay requires a careful, lively and at the same time bright solo piano composition. The key of F minor provides the majestic framework for this. F minor is rather a melancholy key. But it is also seen by some classical composers as the most passionate key of all.

Sit down, lean back and enjoy the taste of Chardonnay while listening to Xau.

Combining wine and music enhances the tasting and listening experience
Wine lovers who enjoy music know that established terms of the descriptive language of wine also apply to music. Adjectives such as light, elegant, fiery, noble, harmonious, powerful, lively, light, pithy, racy, deep, powerful and delicate describe both wine and musical compositions. The mere sound of these words, which are supposed to describe the characteristics of wine, evokes musical associations.
Thus it is easy to understand that there is a mystical connection between wine and music. Sometimes it seems as described tones in a magical way the wine. Or even the smell and taste experience of the wine makes the music understandable, or moves it into another sensual dimension.