It starts in the vineyards where, increasingly, wine growers are turning on iPods in an effort to stimulate their growing vines.

Take Hylton Appelbaum, owner of Stellenbosch’s De Morgenzon winery.

According to Hylton, classical music positively influences the ripening process of the grapes and, as a result, he pipes Baroque symphonies through to his vines day in and day out (and, as founder of Classic FM radio, he’s in a good position to make an informed selection).

It is also becoming common for wineries to play music in their cellars.

Although this is usually done for the benefit of the workers, there are winemakers who choose specific types of music for the fermentation, making and maturation of certain wines.

One cellar that is never quiet is Gyles Webb’s Thelema Mountain Vineyards. Gyles notes that, in the 23 years that the cellar has made wine, the music choice has progressed from classical favourites, such as Mozart and Bach, to more raucous offerings played at higher volumes by his younger cellar staff.

Thankfully, the change has not adversely affected the quality and consistency of the wine. (Not to be outdone, the staff at Post House Cellars in the Helderberg wine region has started their own band and entertain at local functions.)

And lest we forget the countless musos who have discovered a passion for wine … Dave Matthews, Sting, Mick Fleetwood, Cliff Richard and Mick Hucknall are just some of the famous music icons who have started their own wineries.

Even the great Bob Dylan partnered with an Italian winemaker to set up a winery named after his 1974 album, Planet Waves.

And composer Andrew Lloyd Webber’s wine collection was recently sold for a whopping £3.5 million by Sotheby’s in London.

THE PLEASURE PRINCIPLE

A study published by McGill University in Montreal shows that when subjects listen to music they enjoy, it activates pleasure centres of the brain – the same areas of the brain that react to euphoria-inducing stimuli, such as food, sex and recreational drugs.

In other words, good music can make us feel the same way a good duck confit does – and wine probably fits in there with those three euphoria-inducing stimuli.

Psychologists at the Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh, meanwhile, have found that people report a change in the taste of a wine of up to 60 percent, depending on the melody they hear.

According to the researchers, Cabernet Sauvignon was most affected by “powerful and heavy” music, and Chardonnay by “zingy and refreshing” sounds.

While cellars have not quite reached the point where they are putting music recommendations on their wine bottles, there certainly does seem to be a case for keeping your choice of tune in sync with what’s in your glass.

SOMETHING TO HIT THE HIGH NOTES

• Rosé

Think lunch and a long table set under the trees. The sun is shining, peals of laughter fill the air and mood is good. Lifting the spirits even further is U2’s “Beautiful Day”. Perfection!

• Méthode Cap Classique

What could be as effervescent, sparkling and lively as a flute of fizz with myriad tiny bubbles racing to the rim? Surely only life itself.

So pop the cork, fill the glass, sit back and enjoy Louis Armstrong’s mellifluous tones as he sings “What a Wonderful World”.

THE WINE WORD ACCORDING TO ALLAN

Allan Mullins, who wrote this article exclusive for TASTE, is one of South Africa’s few Cape Wine Masters and has been Woolworths’ wine selector for nearly 20 years.