The Right Music for the Right Wine
Friday, June 06, 2008
The style of music we listen to while having a glass of wine dramatically affects our opinion of how it tastes. Test subjects rated the change in taste by up to 60%. Researcher Adrian North of Heriot Watt University in Scotland, made the link between wine and song and he joins us today. Also joining us is Lettie Teague, the executive wine editor of Food & Wine magazine; she’s also the author of several books on wine including Educating Peter.
Our blog: John Schaefer on the days of wine and (Guns 'n') Roses
Music Recommendations (from Montes Premium Wines in Chile)
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 (José González)
Our blog: John Schaefer on the days of wine and (Guns 'n') Roses
Music Recommendations (from Montes Premium Wines in Chile)
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 (José González)
Comments [11]
Whenever I go into an exotic restaurant, for instance, Chinese, and they're playing some top 40 station, my enjoyment of the meal is most definitely reduced.
Aren't people just getting tipsy, in which case anything would taste better when one is intoxicated. On the other hand, the results of this study doesn't surprise me. I've always believed that music can change your mood and therefore change your perception of certain things. If that makes sense.
The best music for all wines (and for eating as well) is the music of good conversation as supplied by witty people. The rest is--or should be--silence.
The wine must have an influence on the music, too.
My friend has not only "drunk dialed," he's "drunk downloaded" music, convinced in his inebriated state that he just has to have a song that ordinarily does nothing for him.
Aren't people just responding to the music and not the wine?
If the subjects rated the taste of the wines when music was played then we have no way to say it was the taste (perception) that was affected or just the response that the music and (presumably) the associated stereotype evoked.
How can the researchers say it was the percept that was affected and not decisional processes leading to a change in behavior?
wine for rap: cristal, of course.
I happened to be drinking some cranberry juice when this segment began and I was amazed that the music affected the taste of the juice too. Is this just the power of suggestion or are all of our senses constantly affecting each other?
pretty ethnocentric interpretation..perhaps... all the music is that which appeals to certain social, economic and cultural groups
I used to find the music of Kenny G quite awful. But the first time I heard his classic 'Songbird' while high on crack it really opened up the music's full bouquet of new age splendor.
The effect you are describing sounds similar to "Beer Goggles".
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