Reviewed by: Matilda Marseillaise
Review by Matilda Marseillaise | 23 March 2021

How to drink wine like a wanker is an Adelaide Fringe show which is part wine-tasting (wine flight additional) and part the tale of Anna Thomas's journey from the corporate world to becoming a fully fledged "wine wanker".

 

While the title of the show may cause you to think you'll leave How to drink wine like a wanker as a newly minted wine wanker, this is not a masterclass in becoming a wine wanker. But you may just want to follow some of Anna's steps to becoming one after listening to her speak.

 

How to drink wine like a wanker is held at the bar of the beautiful Treasury 1860 hotel in central Adelaide. Anna cautions at the beginning of the show to please not get up and walk around during the show as you'll be walking across the front of the stage. We see the show on its second to last incarnation of the 5 week Adelaide Fringe and Anna tells us that she has been wanking for 5 weeks and therefore has sore arms (but more so a slightly stretched voice).

 

The 6 wines chosen for the flight are all significant to Anna and where possible are the exact wines that she experienced throughout that journey to wine wankerdom. I highly recommend taking the wine flight for $15 payable on the day as the wines are not only enjoyable but perhaps ones you haven't tried before such as a Roussanne, a French varietal seldom seen in Australia. It's also a way of further feeling like you're on Anna's journey with her as she recounts the story.

 

Anna's story-telling is captivating and all eyes in the bar at Treasury 1860 were fixed on her throughout the show. The show has many laughs and even a few tears as Anna shares a particularly poignant and private moment with the audience. She does so only after making sure we have something a bit stronger in our glass. 

 

How to drink wine like a wanker has run at the last few Adelaide Fringe festivals and she was going to retire it but it came back at the request of Adelaide Fringe - a testament to its popularity. While the crowd at the Sunday afternoon show I attended was primarily female, the male members of the audience appeared to enjoy it equally.

 

How to drink wine like a wanker is an excellent show and while it won't teach you how to be a wine wanker, it's a joy hearing Anna's journey to becoming one over a flight of 6 wines.

 

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5 CROISSANTS