Music affects wine taste
New research suggests that the type of music one listens to while drinking wine can dramatically affect the taste. Heriot Watt University psychology professor Adrian North tested 250 students and found that the taste changed by up to 60 percent depending on the vibe of the tune. In an earlier study, North determined that people were five times more inclined to purchase a French bottle instead of a German one if accordion music was being played. From the BBC News:
(In the latest study,) four types of music were played - Carmina Burana by Orff ("powerful and heavy"), Waltz of the Flowers from The Nutcracker by Tchaikovsky ("subtle and refined"), Just Can't Get Enough by Nouvelle Vague ("zingy and refreshing") and Slow Breakdown by Michael Brook ("mellow and soft")Link
The white wine was rated 40% more zingy and refreshing when that music was played, but only 26% more mellow and soft when music in that category was heard.
The red was altered 25% by mellow and fresh music, yet 60% by powerful and heavy music.
The results were put down to "cognitive priming theory", where the music sets up the brain to respond to the wine in a certain way.
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Meaning: A fair percentage of the taste of wine is all in your head. The subtleties that people claim to be able to pick up from a wine are at a level far too low NOT to be overwhelmed by noise and imaginary olfactory sensations. One wine book I read said not to worry if you taste something different than everyone else does, or if you can't for the life of you pick up on that touch of licorice, blueberry, or toasted nut. I know that sometimes I taste lime in a diet coke, even though it's not a Diet Coke with Lime. I also once read the tasting notes on two different bars of gourmet chocolate, memorized them, then shuffled the bars and blindly took a bite out of one of them. I guessed the one, and it turned out to be the other.
So THAT'S why those bottles of Night Train tasted so sad, Rosko was playing the blues on his harmonica while we sat around the campfire cooking hobo-stew.
So which wine goes best with Black Flag?
Erm, I think 100% of tasting anything is in your head, actually.
Bonnie,
anything out of a box.
I've always thought that the "right" music makes a dinner taste better. Would silence make the wine taste most pure?
the taste changed by up to 60 percent
No, no, no. The ratings changed by up to 60%. I tried (briefly) to find the article, but couldn't, so I can't say for sure what the findings were, but a rating change of 'up to 60%' could mean a number of different things. It sounds like it's the maximum difference in rating between two different music conditions, but maybe it's an outlier (e.g., maybe the other rating differences were only 5%). Not so interesting if it was just one guy who like rockin' out to Paul McCartney and the Wings while sipping his Cabernet.
anything out of a box.
Maybe the best wine I've ever had came out of a box (at a bistro in Paris), and I've never liked Black Flag...
More for wine connoisseurs to babble about.
Still, a lot of experiences are different with different music. Just plain food seems different depending on the music.
More for wine connoisseurs to babble about.
My critique of two-buck Chuck usually consists of, "S'good. (belch)"
In my considerable experience of drinking and listening to music, the wine has a far more profound impact on the music than vice versa. Would I be sitting here listening to Great Lake Swimmers if it wasn't for the Pays d'Oc Syrah rose?
There's a bigger takeaway here, and it has nothing to do with wine, really: it's that music -- and sound, voice, silence -- all have a role in how we perceive our world.
Wine's just one example. Could be circus peanuts for all it matters.
At the end of the day (and film composers/sound designers probably know this better than anyone) our perceptions are engineered in no small way by what we hear.
My critique of two-buck Chuck usually consists of, "S'good. (belch)"
Isn't that your critique for most things, Antinous-san?
Here's another similar story, complete with suggested pairings (Cabernet + Metallica, for example).
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=16372623
music -- and sound, voice, silence -- all have a role in how we perceive our world.
The hospital was quite pleasant with a constant soundtrack of Depeche Mode on my Walkman. Then the scoping room was ever more delightful, as they were playing Samuel Barber (including Adagio). I was protesting being knocked out. Very pleasant procedure, though I did have a flashback during the anesthesia to Arkizzle's 'death'.
Isn't that your critique for most things, Antinous-san?
I jinxed myself. I just had a glass of Merlot that tasted like zombie fingers.
I fear to ask your frame of reference.
Yeah, but what type of music gets you drunk quicker?