Team Bonding Event or Initiation into the Wine Brotherhood
If you're looking for something out of the ordinary for a small team or group event, since June it can be found right in the heart of Old Riga at Jāņa sēta. The only thing is - everything here is done in earnest, so it's best to leave cars and other vehicles at home and not plan a client meeting or business trip for the next day. That's why our friendly group headed to this event on a Friday evening - better safe than sorry, you never know with those monks, cellars and wines.
A suitably mysterious beginning. At Jāņa sēta we located a prominently visible little cellar with a promising coat of arms depicting a wine glass and a bunch of grapes, and the inscription "Secret Event". We descended the cellar steps and knocked on the outer door. A bolt slid back and a man in a monk's habit came out to greet us. Having asked if we were the ones wishing to join the wine brotherhood, he led us inside.
Upon entering there was a wow effect from the decor - a pink haze through which coloured beams of light pierced, immediately creating a special atmosphere. To join the brotherhood one had to undergo a certain ritual - to taste six wines offered by the monks and identify their ingredients - Latvian berries and fruits. As we later learned, the tasting material comes from the Aizputes winery.
Between the wines there was also a small glass of something stronger, more peppery and deeply warming - or even burning - inside. I have to say, it has some kick. The snacks were modest - cheese and grapes - but what more was really needed. And so we moved between the cellar rooms until we reached a larger one, where we could finally sit down on long wooden benches. By then tongues had loosened considerably, and the bonding was happening properly.
Oh yes, I almost forgot - my colleagues and I had the chance to test who could stand longest barefoot on a bed of nails. I must say, if I could hold my own in the drinking, in this medieval instrument of torture test I realised I was the weakest link in the team.
Despite a thorough but pleasant dizziness that accompanied us as we stepped out through the cellar door in the fairly late night hour, neither I nor Ēriks had a headache the next day, though I was glad I'd cancelled my morning sports training in time. Checking in with the rest of the team on our WhatsApp group chat, we confirmed that everyone was alive, well and happy about the event.
So if you're short on ideas for a group of 8–10 people, "Secret Event" has the ideas!
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