Low pitches and Primitivo
Matching this full bodied variety - aka Zinfandel - with a Romantic concerto, a techno track and folk; and discovering a winemaker who plays music to his wines
As explored in my last Oenosthesia feature, Taste the Bass, the multiple associations between low pitches and weight – as epitomised in the idea of “heavy bass” – also appear to influence the multisensory wine drinking experience. In my own research, I found a bass tone (100 Hz) made the body of a Pinot Noir significantly fuller than when tasted in silence.
For me, the wines that best suit lower pitched music are those where a full body is a positive part of its stylistic profile. So we’re heading into warmer climates, which tend to produce big voluptuous bass-friendly styles; or thicker skinned grape varieties, such as Cabernet Sauvignon and Malbec that produce fuller bodied wines.
Warm climate Primitivo (known as Zinfandel in the US), is one of my ultimate low pitched picks, and is the grape that makes the wine I’ve selected for today’s music pairing.
THE WINE: Fatalone Gioia del Colle Puglia Primitivo 2020
This organic Primitivo1 from Italy’s warm south has the full body and high (15%) alcohol that characterises the variety. It’s full of ripe dark fruits: blackberry, boysenberry and black plum, with a hint of prune. But this beautiful organic example from rocky hillsides 365 metres above sea level, has more dynamics than many that rely solely on ripe power. Velvety textured, it has a really fresh, minerally and violet perfumed lift that persists throughout its tasting and long after it’s swallowed.
Fittingly for its inclusion in Oenosthesia, Fatalone’s Pasquale Petrera applies “music therapy” to the wines in his cellar. This consists of playing his wines new age and classical music combined with sounds of nature: wind, rain, the rustling of leaves, flowing water and birdsong. Pasquale bases this practice “on the idea that those soft vibrations improve the activity of the micro flora present in the wine and support its breathing when in casks”. He’s a physicist and has conducted his own informal study comparing wines from the same vintage, which were made the same, but just one was played the music. Apparently the wines were very different.
While my own research focuses on the way music influences human responses, there is evidence from formal studies that sound appears to affect fermentation. A study that’s just been published found that playing sound to a fermenting beer increased yeast population of saccharomyces cerevisiae, which is also a major yeast in wine fermentation, and increased certain aroma and flavour compounds.2
Back now though, to music’s effect on human perception. Here are some suggestions for music to accompany Fatalone’s Primitivo, or other wines made in this full bodied but fresh and fragrant style. As wines can be matched to many genres, I’ve selected pieces of music from some contrasting genres to experiment. Everyone’s impressions will be slightly different. If you don’t want any influence from my personal observations, check out the wine and music matches before reading my listening-tasting notes.
THE MUSIC: Giovanni Bottesini Concerto No 2 in B Minor for Double Bass and Orchestra: Allegro Moderato
We stay in Italy with this first match, the 1853 concerto from Italian double bass virtuoso and Romantic composer, Giovanni Bottesini. This is a faster piece than I’d usually think of for a full bodied wine, but the freshness of the Fatalone Primitivo calls for something equally lively in tempo. Bottesini’s orchestral work directs an exhilarating journey through the wine. A bowed double bass is to the fore, which in its lower passages accentuates the body of the wine, while its rich smooth timbre works with the dense core of fruit and plush tannins. The melodies played by the higher strings carry the wines freshness, while the aromatics seem particularly emphasised by staccato bursts from the violins.
THE MUSIC: LFO - LFO (Leeds Warehouse Mix)
A techno track from the 1991 album, Frequencies, the original vinyl of which came with a warning from the record company that it was not responsible for any damage to speakers its low frequencies might cause. Unsurprisingly, the bass on this track is big, bringing rounded bursts of emphasis to the Primitivo’s body, and dialling up the prune and savoury notes. In contrast, the high electronic melody and cymbals keep the acid and aromatics jumping into attention. Low frequency fact: LFO comes from the term Low Frequency Oscillator, which produces low pitched waveforms.
THE MUSIC: The Pentangle - No Love Is Sorrow
The Primitivo brought to mind the warm and visceral plucked tones of one of my favourite double bass players, Danny Thompson. On this track from his 1960’s blues folk band, The Pentangle, the bass expands the body and brings out notes of cocoa, counterpoised by the high female vocals and picked guitar that lift the acidity and aromas. This Primitivo-Pentangle combination makes for a thrillingly full, rich and fragrant experience.
Wine supplied and distributed in New Zealand by Artigiano Imports.
Alastair Harris et al., ‘Sound Stimulation Can Affect Saccharomyces Cerevisiae Growth and Production of Volatile Metabolites in Liquid Medium’, Metabolites 11, no. 9 (2021): 605.