Humor goes a long way in helping us get through challenging times. So, today, I decided to devote my article to a funny wine blog, Wine Wankers. This is a highly regarded blog that is well worth checking out.
About The Wine Wankers
This is a wonderful blog written by two Australian wine lovers, Conrad and Drew, who say that “Humour is a central theme of our writing style, attempting to put the wine in context rather than churning out mind-numbing descriptions of wine.”
Their name alone is funny. Urban Dictionary says that a wine wanker is “somebody who drinks wine pretentiously in the company of others to show off their knowledge and try to make other people feel inferior.”
They like to think of themselves as the “‘anti wine wanker brigade’, aiming to make wine more accessible by taking the pretentiousness (real or perceived) out of the wine fraternity – ie, wine without the wankery.”
For the last 17 years, as I’ve led wine tastings for WineShop At Home, I’ve told their story countless times. If you like a wine, it’s good. Who cares what the experts say. I’m all about getting rid of the intimidation in wine.
About Their Site
Their site has tabs for The Classics (their most popular articles) and The Under-Loved (their least popular articles). I think that’s pretty clever. On The Under-Loved, they say “Click below to see each of our 10 most under-loved posts to judge if they are worthy !!”
They also have pages for Conrad and Drew. Unfortunately, Conrad’s page isn’t working right now. But Drew’s talks about his fortuitous start as a wine waiter, which naturally led him to become a wine wanker. Here is a picture from his page that he describes as his first taste of French champagne (and cigars) as a 20-year old living in London.
Wine Business International wrote an article about Drew called “From Wine Waiter to Wine Wanker.” They tell a defailed story about his history and also talk about Conrad’s brother in-law convincing Conrad to write a blog. They talk about the site’s popularity, saying that “besides funny pictures and wine memes, it offers plenty of reporting on the wineries and wine regions, discussed in an irreverent, down-to-earth way.“
A Sampling of Their Articles
Their articles are hilarious. Here is a sampling:
- Jancis Robinson talks about her new wine collection and those Zalto rumours – Robinson, one of the top wine writers in the world, didn’t want to talk to them. So they dressed one of themselves up as her and did an 8-minute video. It’s hilarious.
- We drank a $50 bottle of wine that was open for 9 months, and this $3 gadget made it drinkable – This is about a Repour wine stopper.
- Don’t be a wine wanker – They have four rules for not being a wine wanker. The first is “Don’t use wine as an elitist weapon, it is grape juice and tastes nice.”
Cheers!
