An idiot’s guide to wine is coming to a comedy venue near you

by · Australian Financial Review

Max AllenDrinks columnist
Sep 18, 2026 – 5.00am

I’m in a large room full of people sitting at round tables, cabaret style. Each person has six glasses of wine in front of them, and we’re being led through the line-up by a bloke up the front with a microphone.

So far, so normal: I spend much of my professional life in situations just like this. But unlike any other wine tasting I’ve been to, this roomful of people is also rolling about in hysterical laughter, because the bloke up the front is comedian Merrick Watts, a familiar figure on the Australian stand-up circuit, and on radio and TV since the late 1990s.

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Max AllenDrinks columnistMax Allen is The Australian Financial Review's drinks columnist. He is an award-winning journalist and author who has written about wine and drinks for close to 25 years. Connect with Max on Twitter. Email Max at max@maxallen.com.au

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