Assessing the influence of music on wine perception among wine professionals

Research output: Contribution to journalJournal articleResearchpeer-review

Several recent studies have demonstrated that music can significantly influence the eating/drinking experience. It is not clear, however, whether this influence would be moderated by the expertise of the taster. In the experiments reported here, we tested a large group (N = 154) of very experienced wine tasters—the majority of whom were professionals working in the wine business—at a winemaking conference. The first study assessed the impact of putatively “sweet” and “sour” soundtracks on taste evaluation, whereas the second study assessed more subtle wine-specific terminology such as length, balance, and body. The results revealed that the effect of music on wine perception can indeed be demonstrated in wine experts. Moreover, the amount of wine tasting experience, as measured in years, did not moderate the influence of music on sensory and hedonic wine evaluation. This result suggests that the aforementioned auditory modulation of drinking experience is not influenced by the increased analytical abilities afforded by traditional wine tasting expertise.

Original languageEnglish
JournalFood Science and Nutrition
Volume6
Issue number2
Pages (from-to)295-301
Number of pages7
ISSN2048-7177
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2018
Externally publishedYes

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
CS thank the AHRC grant entitled ‘Rethinking the senses’ (AH/L007053/1) for supporting this research. We thank ICCWS for organizing the studies, and the Ontario Wine Board for sponsoring the wines used in this study.

Publisher Copyright:
© 2017 The Authors. Food Science & Nutrition published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

    Research areas

  • crossmodal correspondences, music, wine, wine expertise

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