Tool‘s Maynard James Keenan has always been a bit of a troll and, in a new interview, he fully acknowledges one huge gimmick that’s used as a selling point for his Caduceus wine products.
Merkin Vineyards in Scottsdale, Arizona is where the grapes that become Caduceus wine are grown. When it comes time to turn them into wine, carefully selected music is played for those grapes that are being processed.
“During vintage, I choose whole albums to play to the grapes while processing. Some playlists are played year after year to the same fruit. We note what music was played to what grapes and then these playlists are included with the tasting notes. All whole albums. Played to the new grapes all day on rotation, but not shuffle,” the singer told Discogs back in 2020.
But does it really make a difference when it comes to the final product? Can a human palette detect if a grape had listened to AC/DC or Pink Floyd? If you think so, you are just another victim of Keenan’s trolling habits.
Speaking with two-thirds of AXS TV’s Power Hour hosts (Matt Pinfield and Josh Bernstein) as part of the Danny Wimmer Presents podcast, Keenan was asked about the impact of these playlists, coming clean that it’s all a ruse.
READ MORE: 10 Tool Lyrics That Need Serious Explaining
Pinfield asks Keenan to elaborate on this aspect of wine-making and the singer obliges, saying, “When something comes in I have a playlist in mind. Historically, we might have something specific playing to a specific grape, or a block that comes in, we always write it down and then when it comes in next year we’ll look back at the last playlist to see what was playing and try to match that again, so that that wine always has similar music playing when it comes in and that goes on the tasting notes.”
Following up, Pinfield questions, “Literally, do you find there is an absolute significance and difference depending on what kind of music is played?”
And that’s when the jig is up and Keenan confesses, “100 percent, no. It’s just a great story.”
Always the trickster, that one!
Watch the full interview below and get more information about Caduceus wine here.
Maynard James Keenan on Danny Wimmer Presents Podcast
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