Wednesday 4 April 2012

Music. Wine.

Another of my passions is music, and more specifically making playlists to suit occasions. I have read a few posts on other sites about wine and music matching. A good deal of the time, it is people finding wines to match to particular songs. I think it should be approached the other way around. The concept of wine and music matching isn't new, but it is not common. Music stimulates the sense of hearing much in the same way that food stimulates taste and smell. The wine itself already stimulates smell and taste, and bringing music into the equation provides a more complete sensory experience.

So, I present my basic guide to the types of music that I believe match certain wines, and some examples of songs/albums/artists that work well with some specific wines in each variety.

Some of the articles I have read that simply suggest that a deep, bass-y song needs full-bodied reds feel to me like the equivalent of driving a nail in with a shovel: it will do the job, but there are better, more suitable tools around. Wines that may match certain music may seem completely unsuitable using this method. Music can match wine using any of its many attributes: instrumentation, melody, key, tone, lyrics, and general emotional feeling. This final point is the one I like to focus on.

Music and wine share the concept of the x-factor: the indiscernible quality that makes them far more special than the some of their parts. It would then follow that to use the basic parts of each to make the match ignores the very thing that makes them special. Bucking the norms, looking at alternative varieties and investigating the soul of the music will help.

An example I will give (and forgive my taste in music, but this is the best way I can describe it) is the Coldplay song, Fix You. Piano, synthesizer, some pop/rock guitar. A more traditional (and traditional is a fairly loose term here: there is no 'traditional' in wine and music matching!) interpretation would suggest something like a Cabernet Merlot: slightly bigger-bodied, tannic, but with enough fruit and body on the mid-palate to create balance. This song features an epic finish, a joyful explosion of sound that would feel somewhat subdued with a wine that has such neutrality (I'm not dissing Cabernet Merlot either, there are Cabernet Merlot's that I LOVE, I just think the feeling is wrong). The celebratory tone of the song, and and the energy in the final few minutes needs something more racy. I would match this song with a particularly dry sparkling rose. Something like the Bay of Fires Sparkling Rose NV, or if you have more extravagant tastes, the Billecart-Salmon Brut Rose NV.

Every once in a while, I will put a basic playlist on here, and the suggestion of a bottle to drink while listening to it. The variety of wine will be the 'theme' of the post, and the list will give an idea of the kind of music I like to listen to while drinking it.


Bourke Street Canberra District Shiraz 2010 (RRP $19.99)

This wine embodies the Canberra District. Thoroughly medium-bodied, peppery and avoids the thick, syrupy flavours of the bigger shiraz's. This is a Sunday afternoon favourite at my house, think a roast beef late lunch in summer. This playlist is intended to evoke those feelings. The wine suits stripped-down songs that highlight timbre and richness in vocals; songs about hardship and heartbreak are okay, as are songs light and playful.

01 - It's Hard to Get Around the Wind - Alex Turner
02 - Fast Car - Tracy Chapman
03 - Stone Cold - Jimmy Barnes
04 - This Years Love - David Gray
05 - Smoke - Ben Folds Five
06 - Keep Me In Your Heart - Warren Zevon
07 - Desire - Ryan Adams
08 - Stuck in a Moment You Can't Get Out Of (acoustic) - U2
09 - Hard Enough - Brandon Flowers
10 - When Your Mind's Made Up - The Swell Season
11 - Please Please Please Let Me Get What I Want - The Smiths
12 - Two-Headed Boy - Neutral Milk Hotel
13 - God - John Lennon
14 - Fancy Lover - The Whitlams
15 - California One / Youth and Beauty Brigade - The Decemberists

Your experience may be different, and you may not have access to all of these songs. Check them out on youtube or iTunes, and try them with the Bourke Street Shiraz, or possibly the Tyrrell's Brokenback Shiraz 2009 (RRP $20).

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