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A wine aficionado, I was very fortunate to visit Big Banyan Vineyards, Bengaluru, a serene haven of lush greenery and quiet peace. The Big Banyan Vineyard offers wide range of magical creation of exotic fine wines and guide you through the entire wine making process. I had the best wine tasting experience which are the four basic steps that I learnt: Look & Swirl, Sniff, Taste and Swallow.
Look & Swirl- After the wine is poured into a glass, we observe the color of wine: If it is a sparkling wine or clear, what is the intensity of bubbles? Are the bubbles going quickly or slowly? How big are the bubbles? Then give it slight swirl for the oxygen to imbibe the wine and then sniff it.
Sniffing - Then we put our nose to the glass and begin to smell the wine. Use your nose and mouth both to sniff the glass - what do you smell? If it is a red, you always swirl the glass so the red wine can be in contact with the air to release its aroma. The red wine has been inside the bottle and it's time for it to be released so it can "breathe". Does it smell any fruit? For white wine, does it smell citrus? Does it have a strong scent or is the scent very subtle? Then we taste it.
Taste - Now take a sip of the wine and make it stay in your mouth for a few seconds. Don't swallow it. We call it the palette - If it is a red wine, how strong is the tannin (the bitter taste of the skin of the grapes)? Is it a full-body or light-body wine (think like condensed milk vs skim milk)? Are there further tastes releasing from the wine while in your mouth? Personally, to me the white wine tasted very acidic, and the red wine was bitter and less acidic. The more you swirl the wine after every sip the taste changes.
Swallow - Finally, you slowly swallow the wine - We call it the "finish". Pay close attention to your esophagus - does the wine "burn" your throat? Or does it give you a soothing feeling? Does the wine stay in your throat for long? Or does the taste disappear very quickly?
Leadership, in a sense, have many things in common with wine tasting. The first step for every manager is to observe the people who work for you - who is capable, who is creative, who is quiet, who is an effective coordinator, who is a good presenter etc. You have in your mind a rough idea for each person's general behaviors and qualities.
Next step is to understand your employees and see how they can fit into the big picture of your organization. Spend time talking to your employees or observing their working styles.
After that, you place these employees into the real work situation or project and see how they perform. At this stage, you might need to shuffle or modify your mix of people, so that your organization can maximize the potential of your employees.
Finally, you evaluate the outcome of your initiative or project, and improve upon the mix for your next initiative to find the optimum outcome.
Although leadership and wine tasting seem to be two completely unrelated disciplines, the conclusion here points to the fact that leadership management and wine-tasting have more parallels than you think - we must take the time to know the wine and the people. It also takes experience and patience to understand the wine and people. The more you put yourself in touch with the wine and the people, the more experience you get out of them, and quicker and easier for you to be a knowledgeable wine taster or an effective leader.
What is your leadership style? Share your thoughts below.
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