In this job, you do find yourself in some interesting situations.

Now I can add sailing a boat to the list.

With the wind teasing my hair from an accidental pompadour into a fully-blown bouffant, and my hands spreadeagled across the wheel, I steered the Elixir through choppy waves not far from Brighton Marina on a recent sunny Saturday.

My stint behind the wheel of the Elixir (Image: NQ)

As we’d just been told by our seasoned skipper Seb, who has 40 years of experience under his belt, this 11-metre-long vessel is £225,000 worth of kit brand new.

So when we passed a stricken vessel missing a mast, I tried not to take it as a bad omen.

Thankfully, our journey had no such similar mishaps and when I passed back control to Seb, he told me I was a natural.

Awaiting to board the Elixir in Brighton Marina (Image: NQ)

Now, I’m sure he says that to all his passengers, but it did make the Prosecco taste that much sweeter as we pulled into port.

This 90-minute excursion with Brighton Boating was just one of those on offer as part of the Hotel du Vin business trip package being launched by the boutique chain at six of its hotels, including Brighton’s Ship Street site.

As explained by the hotel’s charming sales manager Craig Johnson, the package is designed for eight to 20 people and starts in price at £275 per person.

Not an insubstantial amount of money by any means.

The Lombard room (Image: NQ)

But this includes a meeting room for the day, a two-course buffet lunch in the bistro, free teas, coffees and snacks, a three-course dinner in a private dining room, a wine tasting experience, overnight accommodation at the hotel and breakfast the next morning.

Brighton was selected alongside the others for its proximity to the capital – and while Craig emphasised all businesses were welcome, it’s clear London firms are a target market.

On why now, Craig explained: “After Covid, Brighton was absolutely booming as a destination. No-one could go abroad so everyone was coming down from London.

“But once international travel opened up again, Brighton was too expensive. Room rates are now far more competitive than they were then and people are starting to come back.”

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He added: “This is for those businesses who are looking to make the most of their time away together and have a productive team building experience, with something that’s a bit different.”

We spoke in the hotel bar ahead of the aforementioned boat trip, one of several additional excursions that can be organised.

Others include a Pinot and Picasso sip and paint session, jet ski and paddleboarding with Brighton Boating, vineyard tours, and use of the sister Malmaison hotel’s facilities in Brighton Marina.

James outside the Hotel du Vin (Image: NQ)

Check in complete, Craig showed us around the hotel and the conference rooms on offer, ranging from the Lombard room with its modern twist on damask wallpaper – skaters instead of flowers – to the cellar Screw Pull room, ideal for a cocktail making session due to its privacy.

Perhaps the most impressive is the Dome room, so named after its vaulted ceiling – complete with chandelier made of wine glasses – and able to seat 100 for dinner and around 65 people for other events.

In a past life – 1702 to be exact – the space was a pub known as The Ship Inn. It served fisherman and smugglers rather than execs and team leaders, with bull-baiting and cockfighting the teambuilding activity of the day.

(When Craig said they could be flexible with the types of activities they offer, I don’t think it extended to that.)

Our room at the Hotel du Vin (Image: NQ)

The individual character of the corporate spaces mirror the hotel rooms themselves, which each have a wine-related name and bespoke decoration.

“We like to think our rooms have character and charm,” Craig said, showing us the range on offer as part of the tour.

“It isn’t just a white wall and a blue pillow because we’re by the sea.”

In the case of our deluxe room, this turned out to be carved whale shark wall mounts swimming away from the padded leather headboard of our rather large sleigh bed.

With just enough time for my friend and I to make ourselves look presentable for our evening meal in the bistro downstairs.

But first we had the opportunity to try the wine tasting hosted by the effervescent Eryn Dawe, general manger of the Tunbridge Wells hotel who travelled down to impart her wisdom.

The lovely Eryn who talked us through the wines (Image: NQ)

Given my wine knowledge extends to the Prosecco aisle in Tesco, she had an uphill struggle on her hands.

But her enthusiasm for the subject was infectious and soon she had us swishing, sniffing and swilling the wines she poured for us in our private tasting room.

Despite the sinks available to dispose of the wine should we not wish to swallow, they didn’t get much use as we were taken on a viticultural tour from the old world of European wines to the new world of other continents.

This included Hotel du Vin’s house Champagne, which has been served at their hotels for 25 years, South African Chardonnay, Argentinian Malbec, Portuguese port and even Uruguay for an unusual fortified red wine which you can have with chocolate.

The selection of wines we tried during our tasting (Image: NQ)

From explaining how fossilised oyster shells in the soil give French Chablis wine its minerality to making sure sparkling wines are stored cold to stop the risk of an accidental flood of fizz but served warmer to enhance the flavour, Eryn was a font of knowledge.

On food pairings, she said: “If it grows together, it goes together. You don’t ever have to overcomplicate things; this is why pizza and Chianti are meant to be had together, or truffle and Barolo, it’s that sense of place.

“It’s what I teach my team and what I teach in these tastings – just make things deliciously and simply.”

James at the wine tasting (Image: NQ)

Feeling more sophisticated than we had an hour before, my friend and I headed down for dinner where our host Mo made sure we were well looked after.

My pal is somewhere on the vegan spectrum, so my amuse bouche and hors d’oeuvre were her worst nightmare; oysters followed by steak tartare.

The silver lining for me was that I didn’t have to relinquish even a mouthful for her to try as I scoffed the lot.

The chicken in a creamy wine sauce (Image: NQ)

She won with the main course, a corn fed chicken breast with wild mushrooms, burnt leeks, and a chicken veloute, which was rich, creamy and delicious.

Conscious that we had a lot of wine to polish off back at the tasting room, I plumped for the cheeseboard for dessert, which included a fruity comte, camembert, a moulded and ash rind goats cheese and my personal favourite, the Fourme D’Ambert.

Billed as one of France’s oldest cheeses, this veiny blue cheese worked a treat with a 20-year-old tawny port – and a sip of my friend’s port-based Martini (a Portstar martini you might say).

The cocktails we sampled during dinner (Image: NQ)

Full to the brim, it was back to bed before one final feast the next morning as we set off home.

The full English was high quality, although I found the bacon just a tad too smoky for my taste; the vegan equivalent was also enjoyed.

While I may have to work on my boss when it comes to the price tag per head, it’s a lovely setting to engage in some team building with the sea a stone’s throw away and the Lanes on your doorstep.

If only I could keep sailing a boat on the company dime.

A full English for breakfast (Image: NQ)