A Bordeaux-based hypnotherapist is offering a new approach to wine tasting by engaging the unconscious mind. Karine-Dita Madrid, who operates in central Bordeaux, has developed a “light hypnosis” method that seeks to deepen tasters’ sensory experience by tapping into hidden memories and emotions.
Participants in Madrid’s sessions are outfitted with headphones and asked to close their eyes as she guides them through the tasting process. “I am trying to get people to taste with the unconscious brain,” Madrid explained to Wine-Searcher. “To use their emotional memory – much like Proust’s madeleine,” she added, referencing the famed literary moment in Marcel Proust’s In Search of Lost Time, where the taste of a madeleine dipped in tea unlocks forgotten childhood memories.
Madrid’s technique encourages tasters to abandon habitual, analytical approaches and instead rely on pure sensation and emotion. Recent sessions have focused on a single wine, including a tasting featuring Château Grand-Puy-Lacoste, a Fifth Growth estate in Pauillac.
In March, Madrid gathered 15 local wine professionals at Bordeaux’s Automobile Club for a hypnosis-guided tasting, an event later reported by local newspaper Sud-Ouest. Collaborating with winemaker Christelle Spinner, Madrid first provided background on the estate’s history and terroir. Under hypnosis, participants were invited to imagine themselves flying over Renaissance-era Bordeaux before being offered a virtual glass of wine by an imaginary proprietor.
While some remain skeptical of the approach, Madrid emphasizes that the brain selectively interprets flavors and colors based on personal resonance. Veteran Bordeaux merchant and winemaker François Thienpont was reportedly “astounded” by the experience, which also included sommelier Charlotte Tissoire and wine writer Henry Clemens. Madrid described the tasting as an “explosion” of the senses, although she noted that after about ten minutes, the wine might seem less vibrant than at the initial sip.
Beyond private tastings, Madrid is expanding her method to larger venues, including Bordeaux’s Cité du Vin tourist center, where she plans to conduct sessions in the Salle 360, a room featuring a panoramic wall projection. She also indicated upcoming meetings with major Bordeaux estates interested in the approach.
Although hypnosis tastings are not entirely new—similar attempts were previously made in Champagne but struggled with group dynamics—Madrid believes she has addressed these challenges by using headphones to ensure individual immersion. In Provence, the Château de Sannes estate has also offered hypnosis-guided tastings led by hypnotherapist Nathalie Chambert, with participants reporting heightened sensory focus, according to French wine publication Vitisphere.
Madrid suggests that hypnosis could also enhance solo wine tastings, including blind tastings, but would require one or two training sessions to help individuals develop self-hypnosis skills. “Normally, the brain operates at 70 percent conscious, 30 percent unconscious,” she explained. “With training, it may be possible to shift this balance closer to 60 percent conscious and 40 percent unconscious.”
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