Behavioural Wine Tasting:
A Masterclass in Mindful Decision-Making.
Discover how your mind – not your palate – drives your decisions
An interactive masterclass that combines decision science, live psychology experiments, and wine tasting – helping you uncover and overcome the biases that shape your business and financial decisions.
Where Science Meets Wine
Join Behavioural Economist Greg Davies PhD and Master of Wine John Downes MW for an immersive experience that fuses behavioural science with wine tasting to reveal the fascinating ways our minds can lead us astray.
You’ll experience first-hand how perception, context, and instinct shape your choices – and learn practical tools to spot and reduce bias, so you can make smarter decisions in business and in life.
This isn’t another seminar – it’s an immersive, sensory exploration of how your mind shapes every choice you make.
Who Is This Event For?
Designed for anyone who makes important decisions – whether in finance, leadership, creativity, or life.
Financial professionals
Business leaders and decision-makers
Creative professionals
Teams developing strategic thinking and decision-making skills
Anyone curious about behavioural science – or who simply enjoys wine and wants to learn more about themselves.
The Event
How It Works
A Tasting Like No Other
This event transforms wine tasting into a live behavioural experiment.
You’ll sample six wines - three whites, three reds.
For each, you’ll answer short questions via your phone using live polling software.
Group results appear instantly on screen, revealing how context and expectations distort taste and judgment.
After the white wines, Greg and John reveal the patterns of bias in your results, and introduce simple decision prosthetics – practical tools to help you think more clearly and make better choices.
Then with the reds wines, you’ll apply these tools and experience how much more objective and confident your decisions become.
The result? A fun, eye-opening journey into the psychology of decision-making with practical takeaways you can use immediately.
Your Hosts
-
Greg Davies is a leading specialist in behavioural finance, sustainable investing, and financial wellbeing, combining academic rigour with practical insight to help people make better decisions under uncertainty.
In 2006, Greg founded the first behavioural finance team in banking globally, serving as Barclays’ Global Head of Behavioural Quant Finance for over a decade. Since 2017, he has led Behavioural Innovation at fintech Oxford Risk, where he develops behavioural technology to support smarter, more consistent financial choices.
Greg holds a PhD in Behavioural Decision Theory from Cambridge University. He has taught at Imperial College and LSE, and held associate fellowships at Oxford University and UCL. He is the co-author of Behavioural Investment Management, a frequent global speaker, and in 2025 launched an online course for investors:The Art of Behavioural Investing.
Greg also co-hosts Pour Better Decisions with Master of Wine John Downes — interactive wine tasting events that use wine to explore decision science and uncover hidden biases in the way we choose, judge, and invest.
Beyond finance, Greg chaired Sound and Music — the UK’s national organisation for new music — for five years, is an experienced choral singer, and co-created Open Outcry, a “reality opera” staged on a functioning trading floor.
-
John Downes is one of the UK’s most respected wine experts, educators, and entertainers, known for bringing humour, insight, and deep expertise to every tasting experience. His engaging and down-to-earth approach helps audiences understand how perception, expectation, and bias shape the way we taste and judge wine.
Holding the world’s highest wine qualification, John is one of only 420 Masters of Wine globally. He is also a speaker, broadcaster, video animator, podcaster, wine industry consultant and writer, sharing his passion for wine with audiences across the globe.
From London to Sydney, John has inspired thousands of wine lovers — from beginners to experts — by blending laughter, learning, and exceptional wines in every event he hosts.
His extensive media appearances include BBC One’s Rip Off Britain, Countryfile, and Breakfast; BBC Two’s Working Lunch and Ready Steady Cook; as well as features on BBC News 24, BBC World, CNBC, CNN, GMTV, and TalkTV.
On radio, he has been a guest on BBC Radio 2, 4, and 5 Live, BBC Southern Counties, LBC, Talk Radio, and SAfm.
Greg Davies, PhD | Head of Behavioural Finance, Oxford Risk
Photo Credit | A. P. Wilding
John Downes, MW | Master of Wine
CPD Certification
The Pour Better Decisions event is independently certified by the CPD Certification Service, confirming it meets recognised standards and benchmarks for continuing professional development standards and benchmarks.
Why It Matters
Understanding Decision Bias
Research shows that humans are consistently biased in the way we make decisions. Our brains are wired for shortcuts, comfort, and context – often at the expense of logic and long-term benefit.
Even when we believe we’re being rational, our perceptions can be distorted, leading to:
Overconfident decisions in uncertain situations
Misjudged financial or strategic choices
Poor risk assessment
Inconsistent, reactive decision-making
By learning to recognise and manage these biases, you can make smarter, more consistent, and ultimately more successful decisions – every day.
Watch the video above to learn how the Pour Better Decisions experience works.
Our Clients Include
"A huge thank you to both of you. Great feedback. It was the perfect event for this audience."
“Thank you John & Greg! That was wonderful!”
“Received many thank you messages today! There's a real buzz and excitement following the event.”
“Thanks for our new tools for Decision Making & Wine Tasting!”
“Was absolutely fantastic gents, great learning and laughs amongst great wine.”
“Pour Better Decisions was a unique and brilliant session that had our team talking about biases and behaviour long after the glasses were empty. Insightful and great fun. Highly recommended.”
"Thank you for making our Jersey event such a success. The feedback was super positive."
"We've already had great feedback from last night."
"Amazing event. We now need to get you in front of our other partners."
