Pairing Music and Wine... Happy Wine Wednesday

We love trying different foods with different wines to figure out which pairings work best. How about doing the same with music and wine?
winepugnyc.com claims that “it’s all about the mood the music and the wine puts you in.” They provide some great wine-and-music pairing suggestions, including Toto’s Africa paired with Sauvignon Blanc — “an uplifting song full of brightness…matched with a zesty, crisp, and bright white wine!” They also pair anything Frank Sinatra sings with Barolo – “Classy, elegant, and GOOD! The ‘King Of Wines’ meets the ‘King of Big Band/Jazz.’”
My quick googling of the topic definitely put me in the mood to host a wine and music pairing event. Here are three different approaches I’m considering taking. With all of them, I will provide the guests with a glass for each wine so they can go back and forth trying the different wines with the different musical numbers. I will also give each guest a voting sheet, and I will make sure to set aside a lot of time to talk about the results.

Approach 1: Host Provides the Music and the Wine

All you need is a variety of music and a variety of wines. I recommend that you have four to six varieties of wine that are really different. Perhaps start with a sparkling wine. Follow that up with a crisp white such as a Sauvignon Blanc and then a buttery, oaky Chardonnay. On the red side, perhaps start with a Tempranillo followed by a Zinfandel followed by a Cabernet. The possible combinations are endless!
Have everybody try each of the wines and write notes about their experiences.
On the music front, choose 10 to 12 musical pieces. Have people take notes about what wines they think would go well with each piece.
Play the music repeatedly as people try the actual pairs to see what they like best.
Ask your guests to give a 1st, 2nd and 3rd place for their favorite three musical numbers for each wine. Add things up to see if there’s any consistency, and have fun discussing the results.

Approach 2: Guests Bring the Music

Before the get together, tell your guests to bring three of their favorite songs or pieces of music. You could say anything goes, or require only certain kinds of music, say instrumental or jazz. Then line up your bottles and play the music, about a minute or so of each. The guests then sip the various wines, nibble the food and choose which song they think pairs best. The fun part about this is that no one knows the wines you’ll be serving, so you could end up with some very interesting music combinations, and everyone gets exposed to new music!

Approach 3: Everybody Brings Wine and Music

Ask each of your guests to bring a wine and three musical numbers they think are interesting pairs. As the host, you do the same, plus you provide the light appetizers. Make sure no one knows who brought what music or wine (except for the host). At the end, the guest with the most votes for Best Pair wins a prize.
What’s the most fun about a music and wine pairing? The wine, of course! Well, it’s also fun to be exposed to new music artists, and food is always a great draw.
If you have a music and wine pairing event, I’d love to hear about it, and I’m sure others would do. So please share your experiences here.
Cheers!