Music and light have been found to enhance the taste of wine.
A new study has found that the colour and sound of a room can influence the taste of wine by 10%.
According to researchers, the study suggests real light and ‘sweet’ music, which is flowing and legato as well as soft and highly consonant, is the best combination to enhance enjoyment. It also found that green light and a ‘sour’ song, which is choppy and staccato with sharp and moderately consonant, is the best combination to enhance enjoyment. It also found that green light and a ‘sour’ song, which is choppy and staccato with sharp and moderately consonant sound, enhanced the wine’s freshness but reduced it’s intensity by 14%.
Professor of Experimental Psychology at Oxford University, Charles Spence, said:
It’s the same as someone moving from being ambivalent about the taste of something to really liking it and with this experiment, that shift happened in seconds. We were astonished to see that colour and sound has such a profound effect on the taste of wine. Conducting the world’s largest multisensory experiment, over the four days meant that we were able to unequivocally show, for the first time, that colour and sound together have a far greater effect on people’s taste perceptions than light by itself.