Or how wine and music can change the world

Written by Vicki Tomiser

I have long believed that certain parts and passions of life just pair perfectly. I also talk about life the way I talk about wine, and I talk about wine through my world view, scent and sound memories.

We all do this. Life experiences get filtered through all our other life experiences. Some of these memory triggers are stronger than others.

When people listen to music it triggers parts of the brain that evoke emotions.  There are implicit and explicit memories.  Explicit memories are simple memories such as what you did five minutes ago, basically anything in your conscious mind.  Implicit memories are memories stored in the unconscious, yet they can still be retrieved by our conscious minds.  They also seem to last longer than explicit memories as they are usually attached to a certain emotion. How many times have you heard a song and been transported to a place or time, feeling all the feelings from that place and time? Happens to me all the time.

Studies have shown smell is the only fully developed sense a fetus has in the womb, and it’s the one that is the most developed in a child through the age of around ten when sight takes over.  Because smell and emotion are stored as one memory, childhood tends to be the period in which you create the basis for smells you will like and hate for the rest of your life.  Whoa! Let’s pair that with another bit of science. When you chew, molecules in the food make their way back retro-nasally to your nasal epithelium meaning that essentially, all of what you consider flavor is smell. When you are eating all the beautiful, complicated flavors … they are all smell.”  Mind blown.

Basically, when you are experiencing wine, you are experiencing scent memory. When you listen to music, you are evoking emotion. This makes for a perfect pairing.

That was a long way of explaining why the decision was made to weave music so intricately through what we do in our Teneral Cellars wine community. You will find Sunday brunch music playlists, impromptu dance party songs and talks with musicians over wine. For our Sip With Purpose Collection release, we are pairing the wines with the music of one of my favorite singer songwriters, Carsie Blanton.

From Carsie’s website:

Carsie Blanton writes anthems for a world worth saving. Inspired by artists including Nina Simone and John Prine, Carsie delivers every song with an equal dose of moxie and mischief, bringing her audience together in joyful celebration of everything worth fighting for.

On March 20^th at 3pm PST/6pm EST, join us on Facebook Live for an exclusive Teneral Cellars hosted Carsie Blanton Concert.  Carsie’s new album Love & Rage was conceived during the pandemic and tells stories of these two emotions.  Remember about music evoking emotion?

Carsie quotes Che Guevera in a recent interview for americansongwriter.com, “The true revolutionary is guided by a great feeling of love.”  It makes sense that we can be moved to rage in response to attacks on ideals and people we truly love.

Get ready for some great music. This is art as activism. These songs are not for the faint of heart. Be ready to raise your glass and raise your voice with us.

In preparation for our Carsie concert, I paired a Teneral Cellars wine with a song that evokes in me the feeling of the wine. Throw in some cheese, and you have a party. Wear your dancing shoes.

Teneral Cellars Grenache Rose ~ Lovin is Easy

The wine is a memory of a warm summer day in a field of wild flowers on a path by a creek bed, easy and peaceful - I throw in my personal scent memory of salted watermelon the way we ate it where I grew up.

The song soothes me every time and evokes the same feelings with lyrics like

“I'm in love with you

But it's okay

I fall in love almost every day

I'm in love with the boys

In the band down my street

And with every good poet I happen to meet”

 

Teneral Cellars Chardonnay ~ Hot Night

The wine is like warm butterscotch drizzled on white peaches and fuji apples ~ basically a warm hug and a restless, feel good night.

The song matches the warmth and vibrant juiciness with these lyrics

“it’s a hot night

and I don’t feel like sleepin

I got too much commotion

runnin’ round my mind

some kind of second sight

I see the meaning of everything

with the fever of the free and easy

in the summertime”