Wine and music

Just wondering if anyone specifically (even unconciously) pairs wine and music? I think there's legitimacy in doing so, just as there is in adjusting many conditions for wine tasting/drinking (e.g. food matching, glasswear, temperature...). If so, what are some of the matches you enjoy?

Just wondering if anyone specifically (even unconciously) pairs wine and music? I think there's legitimacy in doing so, just as there is in adjusting many conditions for wine tasting/drinking (e.g. food matching, glasswear, temperature...). If so, what are some of the matches you enjoy?

Our good friend 'David in Switzerland' certainly pairs music and writing wine tasting notes!

The laws of probability at work.... Just finished reading a short article about how one of Israel's most famous conductors and celloists learned to match food and wine by reading my columns and books.

Indeed there are matches between food and music but as stable as some of those may be the matches depend equally on the mood of the moment and how or if we wish to change our mood. When in a truly depressed mood for example I may well turn to The Cry of the Valkyres with a Brunello or a Chateauneuf-du-Pape; when in an "up" period, it might well be Leonard Bernstein with a Morgon, a Julienas or another cru Beaujolais; and when in a very sentimental mood the music of Mikis Theodrakis with a Sauternes or Port wine. And on and on....

Best
Rogov

I find wine and music to be a natural pairing. To be fair music is a great partner to just about any of life's experience. I tend to think of musical references quite often in my rambling tasting notes.

Since I like to pair wines with food, I've often thought of putting together a music mix to play while having a nice, several course meal. I might start off with something like Vivaldi's Concerto for Two Mandolins with Champagne and shrimp cocktail.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xDjm2pP0t5A&p=5E54ECAB09BEC764&playnext=1&index=24

I need to set up a CD player in my living room (currently only have one in the automobile)--then I can listen to music while I sip. I would choose soothing music like Vivaldi or Bach with a smooth, mellow wine like Volnay from Burgundy and a more zesty Zinfandel with Dave Brubeck or Sonny Rollins or Schonberg. Maybe Chateauneuf-du-Pape or a meaty Nuits St. Georges with Wagner (not that I listen to much Wagner.) Folk ballads with Riesling although I think Riesling would be adaptable to many types of music.

There is an undeniable synergistic connection between good wine and classical music, red wine to be exact, at least for me. The wine tastes better and the music sounds better.
JC – if you have a computer with decent speakers, try www.WBJC.com – all classical, commercial free music out of Baltimore.

I always find Emperor (a pioneering Norwegian sociopathic teenage black metal band) goes very well with 17.5% abv late harvest Lodi Zinfandel.

I always find Emperor (a pioneering Norwegian sociopathic teenage black metal band) goes very well with 17.5% abv late harvest Lodi Zinfandel.

17.5% makes a lot of thing go well, I'd think.

[David M. Bueker]

Put on some Rush ("Moving Pictures" perhaps) or some King Crimson (maybe "Red"), and hand me a glass of wine & I am a happy man.

Bach goes with everything.

[Jenise]

I don't pair types of wines and music so much as I do tempos and moods with wines that deserve/demand more or less contemplation, as the case may be. The more serious the wine, you could say, the more serious the music gets, though my husband and I tend to stay within certain preferences in both and someone like Otto, just for instance, probably wouldn't find our musical tastes particularly serious.

I always find Emperor (a pioneering Norwegian sociopathic teenage black metal band) goes very well with 17.5% abv late harvest Lodi Zinfandel.

Somehow, and perhaps it's just me, but I'm guessing that Lodi Zinfandel could pair well with some Led Zeppelin?

Like Jenise, I tend to match the wine by style (mood/tempo/ambience) rather than specific matches.

I guess this is still a fringe consideration for most wine appreciators - which seems strange to me as surely there are plenty of winelovers who also love music and people are aware of the potential synergy between the two - so thanks to all who made comments/suggestions.

Put on some Rush ("Moving Pictures" perhaps) or some King Crimson (maybe "Red"), and hand me a glass of wine & I am a happy man.

Afraid listening to Geddy Lee sounding like a guy with his marriage tackle in a tourniquet with someone winding away on it is not conducive to easy sipping, at least for me.

Bach goes with everything.

Agree completely, Otto. I also can match some jazz (early Miles, for example) with most wines/foods.

It might not be music but, I was watching football while having a glass of port at a bar just recently. Granted, something didn't feel right at that time. And then came my bowl of pasta and returned to my usual peace of mind.

I love jazz, and for years pairing wine with music has been a natural thing for me.

The more rustic a wine, beer or cider - especially the wild ferments - the more I equate that with the spontaneity of jazz improvisation.

Probably pretty obvious, but I like to pair the music of the country that the wine comes from. Spanish foods, wines and classical spanish guitar make a great combination! Italian food and wines, French etc. Choice of music often depending on the style of food, classical, rustic. Hey, even Dean Martin can make it into the line up, depending on the Italian dish served!

Hey, even Dean Martin can make it into the line up, depending on the Italian dish served!

Like a big pizza pie?

Ah yes, a true modern classic!

Put on some Rush ("Moving Pictures" perhaps) or some King Crimson (maybe "Red"), and hand me a glass of wine & I am a happy man.

I didn't know Rush was a musician.....go figure! I do find though that after hearing him even briefly only radio, I usually wish for alcohol to wipe out the experience.

Joke?
Different Rush in mind.

As much as I love the music of King Crimson, I don't find "Red" (or "Starless" or even "Discipline") particular wine-friendly. I mostly gravitate toward the classics* and jazz (Miles Davis and Monk being the usual redoubts) for wine-drinking events. I might fall back on Brian Eno's distinction of music as being "foreground" and "ambient," with the latter being preferable when I'm trying to focus my attention on what's in the glass. Any music that forcefully engages my attention (such as most Beethoven symphonies or the fearsome tritones of "Red") doesn't permit me to devote my attention to the wine in question. I might also -- in the company of Bill Spohn -- drink wine to the music of the (Dixie) Dregs.

Mark Lipton

* Not all classical music works for me, though. Chamber music and most Baroque compositions work far better than symphonic compositions, IMO

My life IS wine and music and I obsess about both as I am a professional musician and a wine enthusiast. When my brain is focused on music and I am teaching or singing, I can't drink. When I drink, I can't sing because of the alcohol, so, it is one or the other. I never drink before I sing because the alcohol dries me out and swells my vocal cords. Not to pay attention to either would make my life very dull. During our choral program in Italy we drink every evening after our rehearsals. We sing music from the Renaissance, up through Spirituals, and even aleatoric and contemporary a cappella repertoire, which is great to sing under beautiful frescoes in lofty and acoustically live churches in central Italy. I guess if I had to choose I would pair a polyphonic piece with a crisp white, like Grecchetto; a medium bodied red, like a Rosso di Montefalco with something more earthy, like African American Spirituals, Contemporary and aleatoric pieces, that is, random notes that create more textures than harmonies, I would say it requires a nice grappa. A beautiful full bodied Sagrantino or Brunello would definitely require a full orchestra and a full lyric soprano to perform Strauss' 4 Last Songs!