Music Changes Taste of Wine

That glass of chardonnay may taste light and fruity now—but try sipping it while playing Rage Against the Machine. Wine drinkers tend to think their glass tastes like whatever music is on the stereo, a study suggests. Researchers in Scotland offered either a glass of red or white to subjects while playing one of four pieces on loop: The “subtle and refined” Tchaikovsky, “zingy and refreshing” Nouvelle Vague, “powerful and heavy” Orff, or “mellow and soft” Michael Brooke.

Another group of subjects drank in silence. Afterward, the subjects classified their wines according to the same list of descriptors applied to the music—and the results showed the tastes were tied to the tunes, the Telegraph reports. Both red and white wines, for instance, were called “powerful and heavy” by those who listened to Orff, while Michael Brook listeners consistently found their wine “mellow and soft.” The “taste of the wine reflected the emotional connotations of the background music played while they drank it,” scientists said. (More music stories.)