Wine and Music

How could a wines attributes reflect a bands musical expression?

Sensing music other than by hearing it? Actually, if you look at studies on synthnesia or cognitive priming there clearly is proof that music has an effect on our other senses. Or anecdotally someone might reflect back on an experience in college where someone was convinced they could actually taste that Allman Brothers guitar solo…

Anyway, before I get off-track I would like to point out that enjoying the pairing of wine and music is something I happened across early in my wine career. It was a method of description that helped me turn something stressful to enjoyable. I had worked a new winery job for about a year and shown a good palate and ability to recognize flaws in wines. So eventually the winemaker invited me to participate in a blind competitive tasting. For those of you not familiar with this, a blind tasting is where a group of tasters will sample approximately 10 different wines that have a few things in common such as vintage and variety and even price point to compare against one another. The name of the wine however is concealed by enclosing the bottle in a paper bag which is lettered “A, B, C”, etc. The wines are passed around and then sniffed and tasted and ranked quietly by each person. Later the results are tallied and wines are given a score from best to worst. The worst wine is first described and then the bag is pulled off and the winery is revealed.

Usually the winery hosting the tasting has one of their wines in the mix in hopes theirs will show best. It is not uncommon that someone ranks their own wine last. So I made it into the big room with all the big shots and I was anxious to prove I deserved to be there. Everyone else had done this many times and this was my first shot at showing some skills and I wanted to be invited back again for the next time.

So a glass for each one for each person was set up, the wines were passed around, our blank score sheets handed out and we all got started at the 5 S’s;

• See,
• Swirl
• Sniff
• Sip
• and Spit.

After this everyone wrote down notes about the appearance, aroma, flavor and so on. The person next to me wrote out a sonnet on each of the wines. I was writing down little more than yum vs. yuck, raspberry vs. blackberry. Well at least I know what I liked and I felt fine to vote.

After a few minutes of quiet contemplation, someone mentions that each person will need to read their thoughts on a few of the wines to share with the group. Crap. I was okay scoring the wines, but now my Kindergarten level of wine description was going to be revealed. I was not going to fake some fancy terms or anything so I just had to think of language that described something else that was enjoyable, sensory based, and I was opinionated on. Cars? No, I do not know enough on that. Girls? That will get me in trouble. Music? Bingo! I described each wine as a song, musician, or a regionally based style of music. This got me back in to a descriptive state of qualitative thought and I was able to describe each wine distinctly.

When the tasting concluded and it was my time to talk about the wine, I felt comfortable describing the wine which was spicy, yet a bit subdued as an acoustic set by Carlos Santana. The room laughed and much of tension that was there before lifted. While my technique was not as descriptively useful as what some people would have preferred, it was an icebreaker for the room which was somber and straight faced up to that point. They did invite me back to more tastings and over the years I have added a slew of terms to my sensory library of reference, but the music catalog has expanded as well. It’s prett sweet to reflect back on that moment and be part of the Wines that Rock Project today.

Mark Beaman