SoCal Businessmen Learn Wine Etiquette

[Rebel Rose]

UC Irvine Extension Launches Corporate Wine Studies Program for OC's Business Executives; In Image-Conscious Southern California, Etiquette Plays Vital Role in Business Success

According to Decanter Magazine, the U.S. is poised to overtake France as the world's top wine consumption market. With more clients and associates sharing a bottle of a robust Cabernet Sauvignon or a crisp Sauvignon Blanc over business discussions, wine knowledge is becoming an important skill for CEOs and corporate executives. By demonstrating a certain level of sophistication, intelligence and culture, a professional can leave his clients with a powerful impression about his overall abilities.

UC Irvine Extension's Corporate Wine Studies Program is being launched in January 2006 and will provide exclusive wine education classes as a new way to enhance and deepen business and negotiation skills. The new courses will explore topics such as, "Wine Basics 101," "You Have the Wine List, Now What?" "CEO/Executive Roundtable Wine Tastings," "Entertaining Your Multicultural Client," "Interactive Wine Team Building Games" and "Wine as a Business Tool."

"Interactive Wine Team Building Games"? Any guesses as to what that might be?

[Brad Ballinger]

Actually, in my past job I developed an Executive Team Building activity that was wine-focused. Spouses were included. The basic set up was a bit of wine-related education followed by tasting. During the tasting portion, the larger group was split into teams, and each team had to try and guess what the wines were that they were being served using the information they had been given up to that point. They were also given critic-written tasting notes of each wine.

Of course, the debried was more focused on their skills and behaviors with respect to decision-making, listening, collaborating, etc. But it was a fun event, everyone learned something about themselves and wine, and I ended up with a lot of e-mails about wine questions throughout my tenure there.

To be able to do an event like this, however, requires that all can participate. If there is a team member who doesn't or can't drink alcohol, then you can't do the activity.