The effect of background music on the taste of wine

Some people seem to like pairing a bit of music with their wine consumption, but it actually goes much further than this. There is experimental evidence that music has an effect on how we taste wine, so that different music produces different taste sensations in our brains. This seems to me to be an important and interesting topic, and yet it seems not to have been covered much in the wine literature. So, let’s have a look at it here. *

One of the earliest publications on this topic dates back only a dozen years:
Adrian C. North. (2012) The effect of background music on the taste of wine. British Journal of Psychology 103: 293–301. The author, then at the Heriot Watt University, Edinburgh, but now at Curtin University, Perth, Australia, summarized his work like this:

Research concerning cross-modal influences on perception has neglected auditory [sound] influences on perceptions of non-auditory objects, although a small number of studies indicate that auditory stimuli can influence perceptions of the freshness of foodstuffs. Consistent with this, the results reported here indicate that independent groups’ ratings of the taste of the wine reflected the emotional connotations of the background music played while they drank it. These results indicate that the symbolic function of auditory stimuli (in this case music) may influence perception in other modalities (in this case gustation); and are discussed in terms of possible future research that might investigate those aspects of music that induce such effects in a particular manner, and how such effects might be influenced by participants’ pre-existing knowledge and expertise with regard to the target object in question.

This is fascinating, I think — sound influences taste. Since then, there have been a number of similar articles, and some follow-up ones, as listed by Pubmed.

One of these subsequent articles, with a theoretical discussion of the topic, is:
Charles Spence & Qian Janice Wang (2015) Wine and music (III): so what if music influences the taste of the wine? Flavour 4: 36. The authors summarized their ideas like this:

A growing body of evidence, both anecdotal and scientifically rigorous, now points to the fact that what people taste when evaluating a wine, not to mention how much they enjoy the experience, can be influenced by the specifics of any music that happens to be playing at the same time. The question that we wish to address here is ‘So what?’ Why should anyone care that music (or, for that matter, specially composed soundscapes) exert(s) a cross-modal influence over the wine-tasting experience? ‘Why not just drink great wine and forget about the music?’ a sceptic might ask. Here, we outline a number of the uses that such research findings have been put to in the marketplace, in experiential events, in artistic performances, and in terms of furthering our theoretical understanding of those factors that influence the tasting experience. We also highlight how the latest in technology (think: sensory apps and hyper-directional loudspeakers, not to mention digitally augmented glassware) augurs well for those wanting to deliver the most stimulating, the most memorable, and certainly the most multi-sensory of tasting experiences in the years to come. Demonstrations of sound’s influence on wine perception will most likely be applicable to a variety of other drinks and foods too. Ultimately, the argument is put forward that there are many reasons, both theoretical and applied, as to why we should all care about the fact that what we listen to can change the sensory-discriminative, the descriptive, and the hedonic attributes of what we taste.

This is more of a reasoned argument, rather than an experiment, of course, although the authors’ conclusions and suggestions are important. A more recent article with an actual experiment is:
Q.J. Wang, M. Frank B. Houge, C. Spence & K.A. LaTour (2019) The influence of music on the perception of oaked wines — a tasting room case study in the U.S. Finger Lakes Region. Journal of Wine Research 30: 312–321. These authors summarized their work like this:

Innovative wine makers and marketers increasingly see the consumers’ multi-sensory experience in the tasting room as a means of differentiating themselves from the competition. With recent research demonstrating the influence of music on the wine-tasting experience, the present study introduced music as a unique aspect of a VIP tasting room experience at a family-owned Finger Lakes winery. A convenience sample of 46 participants tasted four oaked still wines (2 white, 2 red) both in silence and with a complementary soundtrack, and rated the fruitiness, spiciness, and smoothness of each wine in both sound conditions. Undisclosed to the participants, the soundtrack had been designed to bring to mind woody/spiced elements of oak ageing. It was hypothesised that listening to the oak soundtrack would alter the evaluation of the wines to be smoother and spicier. The results revealed that those wines tasted while the soundtrack were playing in the background were rated as significantly fruitier and smoother than the same wines when tasted in silence. These results are discussed in terms of the literature on cross-modal correspondences and the emotional mediation account. Moreover, the positive feedback from the attendees showcases music as a viable component of a multi-sensory experience when visiting a winery.

Given these results (the authors got the changes they predicted), I am sure that we will hear more about this topic. Wine tasting is not just about the taste and smell sensations — it involves all of our minds, and the sensory inputs during the tasting experience. Professional tasters need to be aware of this; and we amateurs need to take it into account as well.

Taste wine in the right atmosphere, and it will taste at its best.

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* I let the authors speak in their own words, so please excuse their academic background!