Two Sommeliers arrive at the tasting/restaurant/function to aid guests in their experience of the wines. They run through the characteristics of the various grape varieties on offer, the style and the adopted wine making processes of each wine. They continue enthusiastically describing the wines’ as the presentation becomes more and more theatrical. They burst into song, closely marrying the wines now to famous pieces of opera.
CORPORATE FUNCTIONS/EVENTS
Two Sommeliers act as the Master of Ceremonies for the evening. They inform the guests of the forthcoming activities and detail the menu which will sustain them. The Sommeliers begin by describing the characteristics of the beverages that are to accompany their entrée. As they finish up, they introduce the entertainment for the evening. Unfortunately the hired performers do not appear. The Sommeliers continue with the presentation of the event’s menu and wines. Their descriptions become more and more theatrical and flamboyant as they strive to fill the present silence due to the absence of the entertainers. Eventually the sommeliers’ presentation builds to the point where musical arias marry with the flavours of the food and wine. They burst into song, saving the affair by becoming the entertainment. They continue to MC the evening, linking the event’s agenda to musical numbers.
WINE MAKERS DINNER
(1) The resident wine maker is the head sommelier for the evening. Unfortunately however he/she is running late, so two junior resident sommeliers help out with the ‘tasting’. They decide to bridge the gap to his/her arrival by speaking to the crowd and ‘warm them up’ for the evening. This involves an ad hoc induction where the ‘Sommeliers’ ask that the guests participate in a humorous induction service - swearing that they will ‘eat their fill and drink their maximum (and not take their fill-in sommeliers too seriously)’. The ‘sommeliers’ continue - desperately searching for crowd-pleasing material. The young male of the pair fancies himself as a bit of a stand up comedian/magician, so tries out a few gags on the crowd; however, the female sommelier anxious that this sophisticated audience may prefer to be spared his banter, decides to move ahead with the evenings proceedings and begins to lead the wine tasting. She enthusiastically describes the first wine’s sumptuous characteristics. Her partner eager to lift his profile decides to show off his knowledge also. He interjects, taking his descriptive powers one step further, and relates the wine to a popular piece of opera. Fearless, he begins to sing a short excerpt.
They proceed with the tasting, both now enthusiastic about this new line of association that they have created between wine and opera and continue to find further matches – singing as they go. As they lead the crowd in a rendition of the famous toasting aria (drinking song) ‘La Brindisi’ from La Traviata, the wine maker arrives amidst all the shenanigans. He/she walks forward to take over proceedings.
