The culture in Sonoma County agriculture is how Jessica Felix described the music we were about to hear for the 20th anniversary Healdsburg Jazz Festival. She then introduced Bill Frisell and Julian Lage.
My mind traveled back to 1996 and the first time I heard Julian play. He was eight years old. With shoes untied, rubbing his eyes he approached the stage for a 10 p.m. set with 86-year-old Homesick James from Chicago, a master of his own style of slide guitar.
Eight decades between them, yet the impromptu music was as if they had played together in another lifetime. The stillness and awe of that night, the playfulness of an octogenarian with an 8-year-old, the infamous Charlie Musselwhite joining in, and coyotes howling as backup singers. It was an unforgettable beginning for the Full Moon Blues series, when the former Mark West Winery was transformed into a nightclub under the glow of a Sonoma County winter moon.
Music and wine — a dynamic duo, like the moon and the stars, thunder and lightning, bread and cheese. Winegrowers over the years and across continents have introduced me to remarkable ways in which wine is enhanced by music.
The late Don Blackburn comes to mind. As the first winemaker for Bernardus, he piped music into the barrel room, believing that round the clock Mozart, Beethoven, Wagner and Chopin added to the complexity of fermenting wines.
Throughout the winemaking process, he’d switch up the music with hard rock, jazz and blues, choosing particular composers or songs for his different wines. Vines were coaxed with classical music during critical growing phases and just prior to harvest. The finished wines were stunning.
My favorite wine tastings were those for the Bernardus national sales meetings. Distributors were asked to pair Don’s wines with the diverse composers and genres of music he would play for them. Surprisingly, there was consensus.
While Don was conducting these tastings in Carmel, Dr. Adrian North at Heriot Watt University in Edinburgh was researching “The Effect of Background Music on the Taste of Wine.” He referenced a study (North, Hargreaves, & McKendrick 1997) in which shoppers made choices being influenced by background music. “Playing French music led to French wine outselling German by five bottles to one, whereas German music led to German wine outselling French by two bottles to one.”
“A similar study (Areni & Kim, 1993) played classical music and top 40 music in a wine cellar. The stereotype that people hold concerning classical music meant that it primed thoughts of sophistication and affluence. Consequently, it is not surprising that classical music led to customers buying more expensive wine than did top 40 music.”
Going further with a pilot study of 250 adults, they set out to discover if music could influence the taste of wine. This mirrored Don’s experiment with us. Results indicated that background music influenced the taste of wine consistent with the mood evoked by the music. When the music was powerful and heavy, the wine was perceived as more powerful and heavy. The same was true of the effects of subtle and refined music, zingy and refreshing and mellow and soft.
Decades later in Stellenbosch, South Africa at DeMorgenzon, Don was on my shoulder. At the winery, we were greeted by Baroque music — angels serenading from dozens of speakers throughout the Pinotage vines. It was April and just prior to harvest. We were told that this particular music influences the ripening process. Apparently, studies have shown that high frequency sound can positively impact plant growth, as vines react to the vibrations.
Back to the Healdsburg Jazz Festival, Julian Lage and the Nalle Hopkins Ranch Pinot Noir I enjoyed that night. The grapes were from the Russian River Valley near where Julian was raised. Drinking a wine while overlooking vines from which the grapes were grown is a rich experience we’re blessed to have in this county.
Listening to this now 30-year-old protégé that blossomed from the same terroir as the wine I was drinking offered an extraordinary Sonoma County moment.
Under the light of a full moon, invite your friends over, pop some corks, turn up the music and discover for yourself how music influences the taste of wine.
Marie Gewirtz represents wine and food clients with marketing and communications in Sonoma County and throughout the world. She can be reached at [email protected].
