Wine to woo the lady

A global poll reveals that women are impressed when a guy offers them wine on a date.

Want to woo your woman? Start with a glass of good wine. In a global poll of 10,500 women in five countries, two-thirds of respondents said that drinking wine is an important part of the dating ritual. Nearly 68% said that a glass of wine is essential when it comes to creating a romantic setting, compared to 20% who said that it’s not important.

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Should the lady friend be French, the odds are one in two that she will be impressed with a good tipple, as 50% of respondents said wine is important, compared to 10% of women in the UK and 5% in Hong Kong. Closer home in India too women think that wine has an important role to play to help them decide if they were impressed when on date. Preetika Sharma, 26, says, “If a guy takes me out on a date, and offers great wine, I’ll be impressed. After all, it shows that the guy is taking the date seriously.”

For many women, wine is best enjoyed in the company of good friends. Their wine of choice is more often than not, a glass of red, but rosé is fast becoming a favourite. And most consider themselves equally capable of picking out a good bottle of vino as their male counterparts. Ashita Verma, 28, says, "I would expect my guy to take me out on wine dates. It is super romantic."

Though the wine industry continues to be male-dominated, women are important consumers, as 44% of women polled said they drink wine at least once a week. This statistic also goes up with age: 56% of women between the ages of 46 to 60 drink once a week, compared to 66% of women over the age of 60.

While red wine continues to be the favourite among female drinkers, another female-friendly style wine is quickly encroaching on red’s turf. Since 2009, consumption of rosé wines have grown by 160%. Hong Kong women said being seen sipping a glass of vino “helps their image,” whereas that’s hardly the motivation for French women.

Overall, 58% of women said they know wine as well as men, while 11% said they’re confident they know even more than their male counterparts. American women, meanwhile, pick their wine based on the grape. The online survey was conducted in partnership with Elle magazines in France and Hong Kong, Konsum Göttinnen in Germany, Wine Spectator in the US and Decanter in the United Kingdom.