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Garber on Business: Business dinner? Don't whine about wine

Written by: Anne Garber

Article Overview: No longer does the haughty sommelier at Le Cavalier Réstaurant Français glare down his well-trained nose and impatiently finger his goûte-vin as he debates how to intimidate you into buying a more expensive wine -- that is, ahem, to persuade Monsieur to make a better choice. No longer must you fumble through a 28-page wine list, searching for a name you recognize -- any name you recognize, in order to breathe a sigh of relief.

Garber on Business: Business dinner? Don't whine about wine

by Anne Garber

The golf course isn't the only place business executives need to feel at home; they also need to know the ins and outs of a wine list -- especially since wine lists no longer consist of only a handful of choices. Ordering wine for a business dinner is far easier, today.

No longer does the haughty sommelier at Le Cavalier Réstaurant Français glare down his well-trained nose and impatiently finger his goûte-vin as he debates how to intimidate you into buying a more expensive wine -- that is, ahem, to persuade Monsieur to make a better choice. No longer must you fumble through a 28-page wine list, searching for a name you recognize -- any name you recognize, in order to breathe a sigh of relief.

And it's not just because you've reached new levels of taste and success.

In the U.S., at least, such snobbish "up-sell" practices have been banished by the forces of democratization -- in this case, the democratization of the wine world.

Yet our experience is that the really top-notch restaurants never try this tacky tactic, it's the nouveau riche, wanna-be places that attempt the pretentious fiddle, not the established, top-star establishments, such as Paris's Tour d'Argent that we reviewed last year. This pompous trickery tends to be the exclusive territory of the posh-men's-club-type steakhouse trying to prove its superiority. Doesn't wash.

Still there remain potential pitfalls a-plenty waiting to trip the unwary, the unprepared and uninitiated. You want to select wine that impresses but doesn't dominate, makes you look in command (without appearing controlling) and most of all tastes good. And you don't get that by simply by ordering the most expensive bottle.

Tony Hooper from Wyndham Estate visits Vancouver on February 12, 2008 to share some advice on the subject, as he speaks to MBA students from the University of British Columbia's Sauder School of Business to discuss wine etiquette specifically tailored for a business environment, including tips for ordering wines for business lunches, dinners and functions. Winemaker Tony Hooper is on loan from Australia.

A sample of Tony's wine etiquette tips:

Choosing the right restaurant
Wine or no wine?
Ordering wine
Presentation and tasting
How to transition from small talk to business talk
Length of a business meal, etc
Food and wine pairings

Our guidelines for making sure the wine aspect of an evening goes smoothly were garnered from talking to some of America's top sommeliers -- people who have seen every possible gaffe and more.

The rules for handling wine at an important business dinner are pretty much commonsense and not very different from the rules for any kind of successful entertaining -- be prepared, plan ahead and use the resources at your disposal.

By "plan," I don't mean have your assistant confirm the reservation. Instead, have the restaurant send you the wine list in advance. Browse through it at leisure and chat with the sommelier, without the pressure of your guests watching. You can even talk openly about that all important issue, price, without your guests thinking you are a cheapskate -- or spend-thrift. And at dinner, you can impress the table by zeroing in immediately on the bottled gems.

If you haven't had time to do this, get to the restaurant 15 minutes early. Again, it gives you a chance to talk to the sommelier in a relaxed way. You can learn the proper pronunciation of difficult wine names. And you can order a bottle or two of lighter white, like a sauvignon blanc or pinot grigio, for the table as an aperitif. It sets a welcoming tone.

But no matter how much advance notice you have, one point is paramount: Talk to your sommelier.

These days sommeliers -- at least in top restaurants -- are not only highly knowledgeable, but passionate about wine. And like all passionate enthusiasts, they revel in the opportunity to show off their knowledge.

Take advantage of this. Befriend sommeliers; enlist them as your allies; treat them as professionals, not mere cork-pullers. And don't be concerned about showing a lack of knowledge, especially in this age, when wine lists are growing longer, more varied and increasingly esoteric.

"Asking for advice is no longer seen as a sign of weakness, and part of that is to do with the evolution in the quality of wine service in restaurants, especially top restaurants," says David Lynch, general manager and former wine director of renowned New York restaurant Babbo, which has an 1,100-bottle list. "Because our list is all Italian, even the most self-assured wine hero is going to ask for some help, because people with that French/California knowledge base are lost here."

So, give your sommelier clear guidelines, including the amount of money you want to spend, and put yourself in his or her hands. If you're reluctant to talk price at the table, say something like this: "We'll have two bottles of California chardonnay, not too oaky, somewhere around here," as you point with your knife at a certain price on the list. "And then follow with two bottles of red Bordeaux, in this sort of range," as you point again.

You have now empowered and flattered the sommelier, and he or she will do the damnedest to find wines that will work for you and your table.

While it can be fun, in a social situation, to have a table-wide discussion about what wine to drink, at a business dinner it just looks unprofessional -- especially if you don't know your guests that well. You're in charge, so take charge. And don't make a big production of the process either. Perhaps ask if guests prefer red or white, then pick one or two brand name wines (as a general rule, California cabs and chardonnays are safer choices than more esoteric European options, unless you are very familiar with French and Italian wines), hand the list back and get on with the business of the evening.

Finally, don't assume that just because you enjoy a big zinfandel with everything from oysters to crème brûlée that your guests will too. Quirky, over-ambitious or too adventurous is not the way to go here. Better to shoot for a seemingly effortless and, hopefully, profitable evening.

A votre santé -- and to your success.

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Article Tags: anne garber, business dinner, business environment, business executives, democratization, fumble, mba students, place business, sauder school of business, sigh of relief, staurant, top notch, top star, trickery, university of british columbia, wine etiquette, wine list, wine lists, wine world, wyndham estate



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