# Wine Experiences: A Review from a Multisensory Perspective
## 5 Wine and Hearing  
When thinking on the role of the five basic senses in the experience of wine, hearing has perhaps the least obvious role and, thus, is the sense that was so much explored in the past [85]. In the recent decades, however, researchers have been proving that what we hear can significantly affect the tasting experience of foods and drinks, including wine (see [86; 87], for an overview). In the 1990s, a couple of pioneer studies were conducted focusing on how the music that one listens while shopping can affect our purchasing behavior for wine. In particular, [PERSON] and [PERSON] [88] found that classical music can induce consumers to spend more money by acquiring the most expensive wine choices available, while [89; 90] revealed that music can bias the way consumers select wine. Specifically, [PERSON] et al. [90] showed a congruency between the type of music, and the choices con sumers make over wine. In this study, four French and four German wines were displayed in a supermarket in the United Kingdom, where a flag helped indicate their provenience. Such shopping experience was further enhanced by French and German music, being played on alternate days. Interestingly, when French music was playing, French wines outsold the German ones, and vice-versa. The influence of type of music on the experience of wine was also assessed by [91], but this time with a focus on flavor perception. Here, the participants were subdivided into three main groups, while tasting a Merlot, and a Chardonnay, and at the same time while listening, with headphones, to pop music (a [PERSON] song), classical music (Mozart), or no music at all. The latter findings highlighted that the participants perceived the Chardonnay as sweeter when listening to [PERSON]. The Merlot, on the other hand, was perceived as less alcoholic under the influence of the pop music. Intriguingly, the impact of music on wine tasting has been explored via a prototype of augmented glassware as well, where a wine glass equipped with sensors that were able to detect different gestures made by the consumers was built ([92]; see also [[https://www.ciencia-e-vinho.com/2019/06/02/musical-wine-glasses/](https://www.ciencia-e-vinho.com/2019/06/02/musical-wine-glasses/)]([https://www.ciencia-e-vinho.com/2019/06/02/musical-wine-glasses/](https://www.ciencia-e-vinho.com/2019/06/02/musical-wine-glasses/)), accessed on 2 March 2021). When this glass was used in a piano bar filled with red and white wines, and while used by consumers when drinking wine and listening to high vs. low-pitched sounds, it revealed that low pitched sounds gave more \"weight\" to the wines, and were deemed more congruent with the white wine. On the contrary, high-pitched sounds were judged as more congruent with the red wines. The same glass was also used in a wine bar in the city of Buenos Aires (Argentina), revealing that most of the consumers perceived an intensified wine acidity when listening to high-pitched and dissonant sounds. In fact, in the last 10 years, such type of research has been booming across different foods and drinks, and where the particular influence of sounds in the experience of wine is being analyzed from more detailed and sophisticated perspectives than ever before (e.g., [93; 94; 95; 96; 97; 98; 99]). [PERSON] [93], for instance, gave to the participants a glass of red and white wine, to taste, in one of five rooms, where four different kinds of music were present (powerful/heavy, subtle/refined, zingy/refreshing, and mellow/soft, respectively), along with a room with no music. While rating how much the participants liked the wines, and the music, referring to the same aforementioned musical attributes, there was a clear coherence between the kind of music, and how the attributes were associated to the wines. A multisensory study involving wine tasting, sight, and hearing, was further conducted by [94]. Participants had to rate a red wine while standing in four different environments where lights and music were changing.