Corporate · team building
Wine-tasting team building: a blind tasting for twenty colleagues
Twenty people, six Bordeaux wines served blind, a score sheet per table and a host taken from the team. Two hours, a dozen bottles for the tasting, and the drinks that follow. It is team building that doesn't go through an agency, and it gets people talking who don't usually talk to each other.
The numbers for the drinks that follow
Set for twenty participants, 90% drinking, two hours standing after the tasting. The tasting kit itself is counted separately: two bottles per wine, twelve in all, detailed below.
The kit for twenty
Twelve bottles
Twenty people taste 4 cl of each wine: 80 cl per wine, plus the drops lost and the host's glass. Two bottles per wine, no exceptions, otherwise the back table tastes the dregs.
The equipment
One stemmed glass per person, a spittoon per table, water, bread. Six numbered socks or six brown paper bags. No cheese, no charcuterie until the end.
The room
Tables of five, mixed across departments: a salesperson, an accountant, a developer, someone from HR, the intern. The tasting abolishes the org chart for two hours.
The host
No need for a sommelier: someone who has read the notes, likes to talk and doesn't mind being wrong. The script is below. The wine notes come with the order.
Which wines to choose, and what to reveal
The theme that works best in a company is the simplest: three Left Bank Bordeaux wines against three Right Bank wines, in the same price range. The first are dominated by Cabernet Sauvignon, the second by Merlot; in two hours, everyone learns to tell them apart, and it is knowledge people bring out again at restaurants. The which Bordeaux page introduces the families.
The variation that gets people talking: slip one wine that is clearly cheaper than the others into the six. When it ends up on the podium, which is common, the conversation about price and value fills the rest of the evening.
| Item | Bottles | Unit price | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tasting kit, six wines | 12 | €12–25 | €145–300 |
| Drinks afterwards, two hours | 18 | €9–16 | €160–290 |
| Total for twenty | 30 | €15–30 per person |
A specialist agency charges €60–120 per person for the same evening, host included. The difference is the host; the wine is the same.
The running order, in two hours
- Ten minutes. The host explains the rules: six wines, each one marked out of 20, bet on Left Bank or Right Bank, say nothing before marking.
- Six rounds of twelve minutes. One wine per round, served to everyone at the same time. Two minutes of silence, then each table debates and agrees a joint mark. The host keeps it going: “what does it remind you of?”, not “what aromas?”.
- Fifteen minutes. The reveal, from least liked to favourite. For each wine: the bank, the appellation, the price. The tables count their correct bets.
- The rest. The drinks. The revealed bottles stay on the table, open: that is where the tasting gets done again while talking about something else.
How many bottles for team building for twenty people?
Twelve for the tasting, two per wine, and eighteen for the two-hour drinks that follow, margin and rounding up to cases included: thirty in all. For forty people, double the kit's bottles, not the number of wines: six wines is the most a palate can follow.
Do you need a sommelier to host it?
No. The notes on the six wines, one page per wine with the appellation, main grape variety, age and price, are enough for a colleague who is comfortable speaking in public. A sommelier brings vocabulary; blind tasting brings the game, and the game is what makes the team building.
Can it be done at a seminar?
That is where it naturally belongs: after dinner on the first evening, instead of a bought-in activity. The seminar page counts the wine for both days; the tasting kit is added separately.
Can you do the same thing with friends?
Yes, on a smaller scale: eight people and six bottles, one per wine, no drinks afterwards. The tasting evening with friends page gives the themes and the score sheet; at this volume, your neighbourhood wine shop is enough.