In the Cabaret Bar at Zoo Southside audience members are offered the opportunity to purchase (a very reasonably priced) wine flight before discovering How to Drink Wine Like a Wanker or perhaps, more aptly, learn to drink wine like a wanker in the company of a self-confessed convert.
Anna Thomas was a high-flying business woman in the corporate world when a tragic event, expanded upon over a heavy merlot, led her to an epiphany moment where she decided to do something she enjoyed, bringing her to driving tourists around on wine tours. She admits that like most of us she knew colour and liked red rather than white, knowing little of the nuances and notes alluded to on the back of the wine bottle. What happened next though was a journey of discovery which Thomas takes the bar on over six unique wines.
It may not be a blow-by-blow account of ‘how to drink wine like a wanker’ but it is witty, entertaining, educational and Thomas is every inch the perfect host making the room laugh, bringing the same audience close to tears and with everyone in the palm of her hand as she shares her newfound knowledge of wine and why we shouldn’t make snap judgements before tasting.
This year’s Edinburgh Fringe tagline was ‘Into the Unknown’ and this unique wine tasting is certainly that, providing everything a Fringe audience should be looking for along with a fine take home message: the best wine is nothing to do with the description on the back of the bottle, the price tag, what the wine snobs say in their pretentious wine guides; the best wine is just simply the wine you like best.