Talking About Wine at Business Dinners
New Feature: Ask the Minute 00:60
DISCOVER - January 27, 2010
By John Lahey
Give me some tips, a reader asked, for talking about wine at business dinners where bosses and clients are serious wine people, or think they are. Our reader loves wine but doesn't care to decipher whether it's cassis or tobacco 'gracefully skipping' over his mid-palate.
I've been there. On my first assignment to Hong Kong, I did what the elders told me to do. I read the Analects of Confucius and the Noble House. But just about everyone knew more about Asia than me. How to gain respect, even stay in the game, I thought? Well, I sought out safe ground and asked a lot of questions so clients could hold forth on their thing, whatever it was.
Wine is an ideal subject for the obligatory chatter before serious dinner discussions. Make that all-important, one-to-one connection by showing your enthusiasm for a common passion. But don't go deep into the vines. There's little upside and lots of downside, like exposing a dearth of knowledge.
Personal taste talk is the safe ground; it's totally subjective; you can't be wrong. So before dinner, along with your business points, jot down a few wine points - bottles you love and the stories surrounding them. Stick to common taste adjectives, like the "y" words: fruity, spicy, oaky and earthy. Leave faint notes of cassis on the mid-palate to others.
Trust me, you don't need to be a sommelier to score at dinner; just prepared.
John Lahey is a contributing editor and world traveler.
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