This field study investigated the extent to which stereotypically French and German music could influence supermarket customers’ selection of French and German wines. Might music with strong national associations activate related knowledge and be linked with customers buying wine from the country concerned? Over a two week period, French and German music was played on alternate days from an in-store display of French and German wines. French music led to French wines outselling German ones, whereas German music led to a preference for German wines. Responses to a questionnaire suggested that customers were unaware of these effects of music on their product choices. The results are discussed in terms of their theoretical implications for research on music and consumer behavior as well as their ethical implications for the use of in-store music.

Scientists said their research had established for the first time that music influenced taste and claimed the results could have important implications for restaurateurs. Professor Adrian North of the Heriot Watt University (Edinburgh) Department of Applied Psychology added, "It is widely acknowledged within the scientific community that music affects behavior, but this is the first time it has been scientifically proven that music can affect perception in other senses and change the way wine tastes.

The research was based on cognitive priming theory, which suggests that music stimulates specific areas of the brain. When wine is tasted, these areas of the brain are already active and prime the listener to taste the wine in a corresponding way. The research was carried out with the Chilean winemaker Aurelio Montes. A total of 250 adults were recruited on a university campus and offered a free glass of wine in return for answering questions about its taste. They drank the wine in one of five rooms, each of which played a different style of music - or no music - and were then asked to rate the wine’s taste according to set parameters.

Professor North concluded, "The research showed that when a powerful, heavy piece of music ("O Fortuna" from Carl Orff’s Carmina Burana) is heard, a wine such as Cabernet Sauvignon is perceived as being 60% more powerful, rich, and robust than when no music is heard." Similarly, a wine like Montes Alpha Chardonnay seems 40% bolder and fresher when accompanied by pop music.

Montes founder and winemaker Aurelio Montes already uses music in the production process, playing monastic chants to the maturing casks of wine in his Feng Shui-optimised barrel room. The company is thinking about adding music recommendations to its back labels.

Much depends on ones taste in music of course, but Montes recommends the following wine and music matches.