Two events. Two very different rooms. One thing in common.

Mid-June already, and if you work in professional services, your thoughts are probably starting to turn to September. The summer lull is almost here but it won't last long, and the autumn calendar fills up faster than anyone expects.

Here are two things I'd encourage you to be thinking about now.

My corporate wine events

The gap between 5pm and dinner

Conference season returns in September and October. And with it comes a familiar problem: the energy drops the moment the last panel ends. People catch their trains. The room empties. Or there's a two-hour gap before dinner, and someone fills it with a standing drinks reception, warm Prosecco, arancini balls, and polite small talk.

I'd like to suggest something different.

This week I hosted a blind wine challenge for close to 80 people on a rooftop in London. One table. Six spots. The format was simple: guests had to rank four wines from cheapest to most expensive, tasting blind. There was a queue all evening. People who initially said "this isn't really my thing" came back for a second round. Senior leaders turned competitive. Colleagues argued, debated, helped each other improve their scores. No one wanted it to stop.

The format pops up in the corner of a room, needs very little space. It breaks the ice without anyone having to make an effort. The wine does the work.

If you are planning a conference, an awards evening, or any event this autumn where you want to lift the atmosphere, I'd love to tell you more. Just email me.

Get out of London while the vines are beautiful

There is a very specific window each year when English vineyards are at their most glorious and we are almost in it. Late summer and early September, before harvest begins in earnest in October, the vines are lush and full, the days are long and warm, and the whole countryside feels like a different world from a meeting room.

I recently hosted a day at Exton Park in Hampshire for twenty people from across the media world, and the shift in energy was remarkable. Within ten minutes of arriving, the group was completely absorbed. We met the winemaker, Corinne Sealy, and tasted a still rosé made entirely from Pinot Meunier, straight from the tank, before release, which is almost unheard of. Pinot Meunier is almost always used as a blending grape for sparkling wine; to taste it as a still wine, and hear Corinne explain why

she made that decision, was genuinely unusual.

That is the difference with vineyard days when they are done well. The conversation happens by itself. Nobody is standing in a corner wondering what to say. There is something real to engage with, and people relax in a way that a private dining room, however lovely, simply cannot replicate.

If you have clients you want to take somewhere memorable in August or early September, I have very limited dates available. I'd love to talk.

Why I keep going back to old vine wines

Old vines are one of the most interesting things in the wine world. As vines age, they produce fewer grapes but what they lose in volume, they more than make up for in character. The wines tend to have more depth, more complexity, and a stronger sense of place. Wine is liquid geography.

Last week I was at the Old Vine Conference in London.

If you'd like to try one without a trip to a specialist merchant, two supermarket finds I recommend are Trivento Reserve Malbec from Argentina and Ramón Bilbao in Rioja.

Both work extensively with mature vineyards and consistently deliver something that feels far more considered than the price would suggest.

If you want to know more about what old vines actually are, why they matter, and how to spot them on a label, I've written a blog that covers all of it. Link below.

September is closer than you think

Two events. Two very different rooms. One thing in common.

The gap between 5pm and dinner

Get out of London while the vines are beautiful

Why I keep going back to old vine wines

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