Some commentators suggest that this is an oblique reference to the king throwing a banquet so that his officials (and queen, Nehemiah 2:6) were in attendance. If this was the case, the stakes would certainly be higher for Nehemiah when the king singles him out for being sad.
This suggestion, however, is reading too much into the phrase wine was before him.
In step with Ecclesiastes 10:16–17), we may picture a time of day when it was appropriate for the king to enjoy a drink. The wine was delivered, and now it was Nehemiah’s task as cupbearer to take up a selection of the wine and give it to the king. That the cupbearer would himself present the wine reassured the king that the wine was wholesome to his health and pleasure.
1 In the month of Nisan, in the twentieth year of King Artaxerxes, when wine was before him, I took up the wine and gave it to the king. Now I had not been sad in his presence.