Vibrant. Rich. Exciting. Layered. Powerful. Complex.
These words describe the third movement of Johannes Brahms’ Violin Concerto in D Major.
They also describe a vintage Champagne of excellent quality.
In the simplest terms, music is auditory; wine is gustatory. How intriguing that we associate characteristics of such similarity to what appear to be completely disparate inputs.
We possess a lexicon applicable to diverse experiences. You have likely read or heard someone describe a wine or the tasting experience in terms of music – a wine that ‘sings’ or is ‘harmonious’, for example. Someone may offer their ideal music for a particular wine – one such intriguing pairing is Clark Smith’s choice of Celtic Jazz for Beaujolais.
Might one person’s perfect music and wine pairing be nonsensical, even anathema, to another? We are, after all, individuals with sometimes wildly differing tastes. Surprisingly, research provides compelling evidence that people’s associations of musical elements to gustatory perceptions tend to converge. More powerfully, these associations have been shown to transcend individuals, groups, and divergent musical cultures.
Such associations appear to be intuitive. Instead of incurring physiological responses, we perceive without analytical reasoning. We hear a high pitched tone and whatever we are tasting can feel more tart. That is, our taste perception can be influenced by whatever music we happen to be listening to at the time. We make an intuitive leap, taking our immediate impressions of one sensory modality – music – to that of another, very different modality – wine.
How can we attempt to measure the likelihood that a piece of music will inspire certain sensory perceptions in a wine?
We break down the music into its major constituents, or parameters: pitch (high-low), tempo (fast-slow), timbre (sharp-round), articulation (dynamic-smooth), harmony (pleasant sounding-dissonant/jarring).* Studies tested parameters in isolation to discern taste association trends, and others built upon these to compare the effects of different musical pieces on taste perception.
Similarly, to discern any influence of musical parameters on the sensory perception of a wine we isolate sensory characteristics in wine that we wish to measure: acidity/freshness, fruitiness, richness, complexity, and for sparkling wines, effervescence.
These constituent parts, plus volume (loud-quiet), combine to create something greater: character.
Consider the waves of emotion that sweep over you when listening to a certain piece of music. The ineffable sensation is not merely the result of, say, loud volume or an insistent bass line. It is the amalgamation of all the musical elements comprising a piece that evoke feelings of happiness, sadness, frustration, ecstasy, and everything in between. Similarly, a wine’s characteristics come together to create an overall impression: vibrant and fresh, or powerful and rich, with myriad possibilities. Adrian North conducted a key study in which participants tasted wines while listening to music falling into character categories: calm / exciting; powerful / gentle. People’s perception of the wines hewed suspiciously close to the character of the music being played.
Are we so easily swayed? The psychological concept of priming is…
