Wine, Golf & Gastronomy: Team Spirit beyond the Lines

Early September, we invited one of our long-time FMCG clients to ditch the routine and step off the beaten track. What was framed as a “kick-off” quickly turned into something else entirely: a morning of sharp focus, an afternoon of unexpected vineyards and questionable golf swings, and an evening that ended with everyone around one long table where strategy turned into stories and colleagues felt more like companions.

Morning: sharp together, without the weight

We kicked things off the way mornings are meant to start: strong coffee, warm croissants, and just enough banter to break the ice. No fluff, no drag — just a room finding its rhythm. When it came time to talk strategy, we kept it sharp: clear goals, crisp points, done. By the time lunch rolled around, the atmosphere had shifted. That’s when we knew: this group was ready for more than just another “corporate day.”

Afternoon: wine that connected

Straight to our favourite part: leaving the meeting room behind and walking straight into vineyards hardly anyone knew existed in Flemish Brabant (we’ll admit it — even we were surprised). The first glasses hit the table, faces showed curiosity with a hint of doubt, and then came the twist: the wine was actually good. Really good. It didn’t take long before the tasting notes turned into inside jokes. Someone claimed to taste “oak and ambition,” another swore they’d found “strawberries and synergy.” Whatever the verdict, the laughter was real. And that was the point — it stopped being about the wine and started being about the team: discovering something new, side by side, with glasses in hand and guards down.

From vines to fairways

The afternoon shifted from sipping wine to swinging clubs — and let’s just say the vineyard skills didn’t translate to the fairway. For some it was the very first swing (and the ball stayed right where it was), for others a chance to prove they’d “done this before” (jury’s still out). But it didn’t matter. Every miss got a cheer, every lucky hit a round of applause. Titles and job roles disappeared faster than golf balls into the rough, and what remained was pure energy, laughter, and the kind of team spirit you can’t fake.

Evening: connection over cuisine

The day wrapped up in Leuven at one long table — the kind where you know the night’s going to last longer than planned. Plates kept coming, glasses kept filling, and the conversation slipped into that sweet spot no boardroom ever manages to hit. Business talk blended with belly laughs, and somewhere between the main course and dessert, work and pleasure stopped being separate things. They just became… the team.

Why it worked

Because this wasn’t a “program.” It was a day that actually meant something. Real conversations over coffee, surprise in the vineyards, golf balls lost to the rough, and stories that only happen when you put people around one table. Bold, unscripted, memorable. That’s the kind of experience we design at way2events — where every detail is covered so the only thing left is energy, connection, and a team that walks away stronger than it arrived.

Dare to be bold. Because safe is forgettable.