Monocle Columnist Andrew Tuck Recounts Dinner-Party Gift Faux Pas in London and Mallorca

In a Monocle weekend column, Andrew Tuck recounts a social misstep from his past: invited to dinner at the grand London home of a work contact, he brought a bottle of champagne in an off-licence carrier bag, only for a butler to intercept the bottle at the door and leave it in the hallway. Tuck uses the anecdote to ask when bringing wine to a host becomes unwise. A more recent invitation took him to Mallorca, to a house named after the family who lives there; unsure whether the host was too grand for gifts, he messaged his friend Olaf, for whom the dinner was being thrown, who confirmed a bottle would be acceptable. Tuck also brought a copy of Monocle in a tote bag. He describes the hostess as the epitome of barefoot chic and reports no butler rash. The column notes that thirtysomethings today may not host dinner parties, or drink only kombucha to protect morning workouts at Barry's. Tuck also tells a workplace story about a mid-week dinner at a friend's flat where a guest arrived with Anjelica Huston, whom the host did not recognize; a young colleague had never heard of Huston. He closes with Instagram etiquette, questioning users who 'like' posts about a parent's death or a kidnapping in the Amazon, and one who replied to a death announcement with a poop emoji. He recommends Konfekt: A Guide to Generous Hosting.