Non-experts are often struck by the nonsense descriptions on wine bottles. “A subplot of mushrooms” reads the tasting notes for one wine. “Touched by asparagus” suggests another.
Other bottles are personified; there are bold Merlots, cheeky rosés and even a Chardonnay with a bee in its bonnet. The whole scene seems ripe for parody. Sweeney Preston and Ethan Cavanagh Credit: Simon Schluter Enter Melbourne-based comics Sweeney Preston and Ethan Cavanagh.
Their Bondi Festival-bound show In Pour Taste: A Comedy Wine Tasting Experience pokes gentle fun at wine snobbery, cutting through the buzzwords and purple prose often associated with vino. Each instalment takes place in a wine bar and sees the pair team up with a local expert to guide the audience through a breezily informative and joke-filled tasting of five wines. Joining such comic shows as the Chris Taylor-starring Plonk and Merrick Watts’ An Idiot’s Guide to Wine , Preston and Cavanagh are amused rather than cynical about wine wankery.
“We love it because it’s more material for us,” Preston says. Lest their own show take on any pretensions, however, the pair have introduced a “bulls--- bell” that they give to an audience member at each performance to ring every time either they or their wine expert gets a bit too high-falutin’. “It reminds everyone that it is a comedy show,” Preston says.
“The second an audience member steps out of line and says ‘Well, I actually bought a $2,000 bottle of.
