The art of getting it right
With several festive seasons around the corner many companies and people are browsing wine lists, considering wine to buy as present for their clients and loved ones, but what should they buy?
Giving wine as company present for Christmas or Tet is very common in Vietnam. When giving a gift to their clients companies should consider that what they give is an expression of how much or how little they value their customers.
In Vietnam, sadly, many companies spend as much money in the box/wrapping than in the bottle, sometimes even more, however, it should be noted that although the first impression of a nice box will be welcoming, but if the wine itself is cheap or tastes bad that is the memory that will remain. Furthermore, a bad wine inside a beautiful box may imply that the goods/ services sold by the company are the same: pretty on the outside but actually terrible in what matters, so be careful.
In general, companies have a budget per customer, so spend it wisely and focus on quality rather than on quantity. People who love wine will always prefer to receive one good bottle of wine rather than a full case of average or bad wine. If you are on a budget, forget about giving French wine, especially Bordeaux, which is overpriced, go for good-value-for-money wines like those from Spain, Portugal, Argentina or South Africa. If you are choosing Chile, make sure that you go for premium or super premium because most Chilean wines are associated with being cheap plonk, an association you don’t want for your company, do you?
What about buying wine as presents for friends and loved ones? More or less the same rules apply: don’t go for cheap wine if you are giving it to a wine lover. I really hate when someone brings me a bottle of cheap bad wine, rather than giving me pleasure it creates a problem because I will not drink it, I will not give it as a present to someone else, but I still need to store it.
If you want to impress wine lovers, look for something unusual—uncommon regions or uncommon grape or both—this will show that you care and you dedicated some time to find something nice for someone you love, and he or she will appreciate it, plus unusual grapes and regions usually produce cheaper wines than the famous ones.