By: Erin Fitzpatrick, Heritage Wine Radio “At The Root Of It”
The first time I witnessed music being played to a cellar full of barrels of fine wine, was during a visit to Montes winery in Chile’s Colchagua Valley in 2008. I believe it was some sort of Gregorian chant that was resounding in the Feng Shui design of the barrel room, hypothetically coaxing the wines into their best expression.
It was not until last week while visiting Sherry country in Jerez that I saw this same idea of music therapy being practiced again, this time at Grupo Estevez. In an effort to continually better the ‘total quality’ of their sherry wines, President of Grupo Estevez, José Estevez, has begun implementing music therapy in the bodega. Music therapy is understood by Estevez as the utilization of music and its elements – such as sound, rhythm, melody and harmony – to discover potential and to restore functions in an individual and thus lead to a better quality of life.
Given that the living yeasts that we know as ‘flor,’ the essential ingredient in the biological aging process of Fino Sherry, are indeed living organisms, can’t they too benefit from the agreeable and harmonious ambiance created by the presence of music? This is the question, and the reason for the experimentation underway.
Though Estevez doesn’t claim to be a scientist nor a researcher in this field, he certainly is an idea man, and a successful one at that. He is inspired by the notion that living organisms, in this case the flor, can thrive and develop in a better way, grow faster and thicker and live longer, and potentially make wine of greater quality.
The harmonies of Spanish guitar, violin and percussion were echoing in the cathedral-like, exponentially expansive bodega the day that we visited, and to his credit, the atmosphere was undoubtedly peaceful.
The verdict is out on whether Fino Sherry in Jerez or Carmenere in Chile will taste better after years of aging amidst melodious songs, but if the Valdespino bottlings we tasted that afternoon at the bodega are any indication of the upwards trajectory of Sherry wine, play for me that lullaby!
