It was a much anticipated visit to Singapore by my colleagues from Hong Kong and London, for our FIRST Annual Tasting on this sunny island. They arrived during the week of the 20th March and I was looking forward to welcoming them, as well as being excited about the turnout to our inaugural wine tasting.
The reservation list had been full for several weeks before the tasting and everyone was really looking forward to a warm reception and some great wines. The venue was the Tower Club Singapore. A prestigious private members’ club perched on top of one of the tallest buildings in Singapore, right in the middle of the Central Business District. A most convenient spot for our visitors, most of whom work in the area.
We got to the Tower Club at 4pm to set up. My colleagues couldn’t resist taking pictures of the commanding view that oversees the South China Sea, and also the Marina Bay area – including the famous Marina Bay Sands casino hotel. As our Sales Director, Mr Oliver Hartley, remarked ‘this is possibly the highest Corney & Barrow Tasting ever’.
With good teamwork and the assistance of the helpful Tower Club staff, we set up several wine stations. Each station had wines from a specific region, with the exception of Burgundy, which had a station of its own. We featured a good few wines from Burgundy and as they’re the love of many wine drinkers here in Singapore it seemed only fair for them to have their own spot!
At 6pm, I spotted two familiar faces! They had arrived early and were sitting in the lounge area, enjoying the sunset. I stepped forward to welcome our first guests and from that first moment, the evening became a whirlwind for me. The night passed in a wonderful blur! One moment, I was welcoming guests and feeling ecstatic about being able to put a face to a name, the next moment, I was giving a quick-fire five minute recommendation to a group of wine enthusiasts about what should ‘not-be-missed’ that night.
Before I knew it, I was bidding my guests farewell. Some left quietly, but sent me a ‘thank you’ note for the invite and confirmed they enjoyed themselves tremendously. The feedback has been extremely positive; many guests said that they particularly enjoyed the Francois Carillon wines, the Italian Bisernos and Trinoros and our new Spanish label, Bodegas Zugober. We had a lot of new customers opening accounts with us, and of course, customers ordering their favorite bottles. Already – and most satisfying – they are asking when our next tasting is!
We wrapped up quickly and took our tired feet up one level to the 63rd floor for our team dinner at Li Bai, a beautiful and elegant Chinese restaurant. Peking duck has never tasted so good – particularly when served on Versace crockery!
For our next Annual Tasting in 2014, we will have more of the wines that our customers so desire (after all, we are only 6 months old in Singapore and still developing!) and will continue to offer great wines at decent prices all year round. I can’t wait to see what the next year brings. Can you?