Music & Wine: Hitting All the Notes

An additional component of Drink Your Feelings' marketing strategy that I was unable to mention during yesterday's presentation (but absolutely love!) is enhancing customer experience and engagement through music. Last week, during a tasting at a local winery, a friend and I started comparing the wines to different bands, and then more broadly to different styles of music. Upon returning home, I did some research and found we weren't the only ones thinking about this connection. 

In 2015, Wine Enthusiast released a pairings list matching varietals to what they felt were complementary styles of music:

A growing body of scientific evidence is demonstrating that music and wine are closely linked, and that each can enhance the experience of the other. WineSmith winemaker Clark Smith explains: 

"Anybody can tell happy music from sad from angry from romantic from lustful. Wines are the same. Cabernets are angry, Pinots romantic, Rieslings cheerful.... Pay particular attention to astringency: the smoothness or harshness a wine displays when tasted in a specific musical environment. You don't need more than a few seconds to sense the effect... The trials we've been doing demonstrate the synergistic effects quite clearly and at this point pretty universally for thousands of people." 

He connected this to music through the experiment outlined below:

(1) Set up a flight of whites...

(2) Have your tasters record their impressions on the wines' characteristics (fruitiness, buttery, oaky, smoothness); then have everyone vote on a favorite.

(3) Now, turn on "California Girls" by the Beach Boys. Smith's research shows that now your tasters will love the Glen Ellen and find everything else "pretty disgusting." Everyone votes again.

(4) Now, turn on Ella Fitzgerald's "St. Louis Blues". He has found that will cause the Glen Ellen to taste harsh, and all will prefer the Rombauer's butter and balance. Everyone votes again.

(5) From here, play 15 second clips of the two pieces over and over until tasters are convinced of the effects.

The experiment can also be replicated with reds. His recommendations for a tasting experiment include pairing "romantic music" like Mozart's "Eine Kleine Nacht Musik" with a burgundy from the Côtes de Nuits or Strauss with a California pinot... and then comparing the experience to pairing a Cabernet Sauvignon with "dark, angry music" like "People Are Strange" by The Doors or "Here's To The Meantime" by Grace & The Nocturnals.

As part of DYF's marketing strategy to build a strong, authentic presence across as many interests and platforms as possible, DYF would partner with Spotify - and work with both winemakers and artists  - to curate varietal-specific playlists according to the recommendations and findings above.

Have a surplus of riesling you're trying to push? The connection between music and wine could also be leveraged in tasting rooms and even bars to prime specific sales. A 1999 study published in the Journal of Applied Psychology analyzed 82 wine buyers in a suburban English supermarket and found that when shoppers heard French music in the store, French wine outsold German wine by a ratio of five to one. Likewise, when German music was playing, German wines sold well. This study was further validated inbyone of my old New York hangouts, City Winery; their GM has tracked wine sales against musical performers and found that when young singer-songwriters perform at the restaurant/bar, New World wines from California and Oregon sell more. Heavier bass lines result in increased sales of Syrah and California Cabs, and "higher tones" inspire demand for white wines.

For industry giants like Gallo looking for new ways to reach and engage Millenials, music could be an unexpected and unique way to access young hearts and minds. Consider, for example, the festival space. Why not offer a menu that changes with the lineup? Or a tasting named after various bands or songs? Or different varietals near different tents? Last year at Coachella, I waited in line for a tiny glass of $12 rose. The audience is captive, the beverage options and limited, and, of course, the music is right...