April 9, 2008
Free advice!
Alex wrote to me in my Dear Economist guise:
Dear Economist,
When invited to dinner, I am often unsure whether to bring good wine. If I take an expensive bottle, it may go unappreciated – either through lack of appreciation or people not seeing what I’ve brought. Taking plonk means I can get a free ride on others’ largesse, but my tightfistedness could get rumbled – what do you recommend?
Alex, Geneva
My reply is here, but the FT’s Chief Economics Commentator, Martin Wolf, offers his own view:
Adults should never bring wine as a gift in the expectation that it will be served that evening. If your hosts have any discrimination, they will already have chosen suitable wine. The implication that they cannot do so is insulting. If it is bad wine, they will be doubly insulted. If your hosts have no discrimination, why are you visiting them?
The right thing to do is write a thank-you note after you return home. If you enjoyed the evening, send flowers or some other present, perhaps even a good bottle of wine.
That all sounds very sensible to me, but I’d still like to see Martin’s intuition properly mathematically modelled. Meanwhile Dan Ariely’s first “Dear Irrational” is now up.
Oh for God’s sake. ‘Adults’ or ‘rich and snooty adults’? Unless I exist in a strange world of middle-aged (and older) children, everybody I know is happy to receive a bottle of wine on the night, and to open it that night. What percentage of the adult population do you think fits Mr Wolf’s depiction? 0.05%? And who wants that kind of person as a friend? Not me.
Posted by: Luis Enrique | April 9th, 2008 at 8:13 am | Report this commentI am very happy to receive wine when I invite people to dinner, but I serve them the wine I have chosen (unlees they have brought something that is clearly better for that meal). Equally, I often bring wine when invited, but am happy if it is served or not served.
Martin Wolf is an extraordinarily discriminating person, but if he expects his level of discrimination from the rest of us, he will be disappointed. He should rest content with his magnificent comparative advantage.
Posted by: David Heigham | April 9th, 2008 at 1:54 pm | Report this commentI don’t drink, and I’m completely ignorant about wines, so it’s because of this expectation that I bring a bottle of wine that I often consider dinner invitations threats rather than offers, in other words choice situations I would prefer never having been in.
I would dread these invitations much less if I could discharge my obligation to reciprocate with a thank-you note.
Posted by: zlguocius | April 9th, 2008 at 7:03 pm | Report this commentI: The posession of a good hammer does not necessarily turn all problems into nails–notwithstanding the enlightening powers of mathematical modelling in applicable matters, it is not the answer to every question, much less a reliable or even convincing one otherwise.
Remember the faith–nay, fanaticism–many of us put in Black-Scholes, and the self-assurance it brought us in return. Until we discovered their limits in the real world–not even multiple PhD’s and a Nobel Prize in Economics could save LTCM and the faithful flock from reality.
II: The Gods have sent Alex and Ziguocius the FT’s owm Jancis Robinson–whose expertise on this particular subject is more relevant than The Undercover Economist’s.
See LIST OF AFFORDABLE GOOD RED WINES
Posted by: J Michael AJP Llamas, private banker, 39 | April 11th, 2008 at 3:38 am | Report this commenthttp://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/9ccb4c8e-9fb2-11dc-8031-0000779fd2ac.html
and the one for whites as well.
This reminded me of an article years ago by wife of a junior UK dimplomat on a new posting to Paris. She had been apprehensive about hosting her fist dinner party there. But then felt more relaxed after attending one hosted by French collegue of her husband. The French cheerfully opened every bottle, with discrimination as to what was being eaten, temperature of the wine, and drank the lot.
Posted by: Michael, UK | April 14th, 2008 at 3:51 pm | Report this commentSoory - I meant to say WITHOUT discrimination as to what was being eaten….
Posted by: Michael, UK | April 14th, 2008 at 3:52 pm | Report this comment