Many have tried it with main courses and starters, with cheese, with chocolate and even desserts. Now it’s time to pair wine with music.
In what they are calling the ultimate passion pair up, Nedbank’s Cape Winemakers Guild has partnered not with chefs but with neuroscientists and composers to create a marriage between a piece of music and a glass of cabernet sauvignon for its new campaign, Tasting Notes: A Story of Sound and Wine.
In a world-first, five Nedbank Cape Winemakers Guild protégés, composers, and neuroscientists have collaborated to create a piece of music that pairs with any glass of Cabernet Sauvignon – scientifically and creatively using music notes to interact with your brain to enhance the tasting notes of the wine.
After the wine industry was severely affected by the Covid-19 lockdowns, Tasting Notes: A Story of Sound and Wine was created to use a wine and music mash-up to change the experience of drinking wine – to make it more exciting and more accessible than ever.
The result was a beautifully balanced, full-bodied bottle of cabernet sauvignon – the most available and recognised grape variety in SA, which is best grown in Stellenbosch.
Nicolaas van Reenen, a producer and music composer, worked with composer Simon Kohler to create the perfect piece of music to accompany this glass of cabernet sauvignon.
“Over the past year, the South African wine industry has gone through significant challenges due to Covid-19. So Nedbank, as a long-term supporter of wine, together with the Cape Winemakers Guild, set out to transform the way people see wine through music,” said Khensani Nobanda, Nedbank Group Executive for Marketing and Corporate Affairs.
“Music is a universal language, and the right wine can make any experience more pleasurable. We all know wine pairs with food, but could we tap into our collective love of music and create a literal wine-and-music pairing to achieve our goal of opening up wine to new audiences?” asked Nobanda.
The scientific process entailed translating a Cabernet Sauvignon’s tasting map into an instrumentation map (Cabernet Sauvignon is one of the most available and recognised grape varietals the world over).
This was achieved by gathering data through wearable electroencephalogram (EEG) headset technology that measured emotional responses during various rounds of sensory wine-tasting experiences.
The data was then combined with sound to taste mapping to plot the tasting experience into a piece of music. After an extensive testing period, the result is a composition that peels away the flavours of any Cabernet Sauvignon – backed by science and bolstered by imagination.
“Tasting Notes represents the inclusivity and innovation of Nedbank, the Cape Winemakers Guild and the Protégé Programme.
“Together, we have reimagined a new way to connect people with wine -through music on both scientific and Oenological levels, whilst appealing to those who appreciate the passionate artistry behind wine,” said Andrea Mullineux, Nedbank Cape Winemakers Guild member and winemaker at Mullineux & Leeu Family Wines.
The video offers prompts to smell and taste your glass of wine throughout – a very deliberate attempt to take the taster on a journey of tasting a glass of wine, from start to finish, with the piece of music building up, reaching a crescendo and closing off with the soft sound of water droplets.
The result is also two-fold: more than enhancing the taste, as you slip into this world of music, your attention shifts to only the wine in your mouth and the music in your ears.
You engage more senses, and the wine seems to come alive on your tongue, flowing to the sound of the music.