Read on to find out firsthand what it’s like to make a wine show, taste delicious drops all day – and of course, explore New South Wales’ fine wine regions.
L to R: Front man, Chris Taylor, struggling producer, Nathan Earl, and ‘The Expert’, Josh Tyler
What are your top three must-haves for a wine getaway?
Chris:
A: A designated driver
B: A back-up designated driver
C: The number of a good taxi company
Josh:
A: Cheese
B: Cheese knife
C: Cheese board
PLONK sees the crew visit NSW wineries in Murrumbateman, the Hunter Valley, Mudgee, and Orange. Which NSW wine region was your favourite and why?
Chris:
My favourite wine region is actually Sydney Airport. We didn’t get to film there unfortunately, but I love the stuff they’re growing there and forcing you to taste at those little stands while you’re rushing to catch a plane.
Josh:
Murrumbateman is NSW wine regions’ best kept secret; they literally hide it in the Canberra wine region.
Filming amongst a NSW vineyard
Red or White? And any favourites?
Chris:
I like blue.
Josh:
I prefer white with a dash of red; I think they call it a blend.
Are you a store-it or drink-it-now kind of wine drinker?
Chris:
I’m more of a drink-it-now person. In fact, I’m so impatient I often just suck the juice straight out of the grape on the vine rather than wait for it to be harvested and bottled.
Josh:
By “store-it”, do you mean – drink it in the store? Isn’t that same as “drink-it-now”. I guess I do both.
Have you visited any other wine regions around the world? How does NSW compare?
Chris:
I saw a replica of Bordeaux at Las Vegas once. They had strippers crushing the grapes. It was very authentic.
Josh:
I drank kava in Fiji and I must say the wines of NSW are a lot less earthy.
Food and wine go hand-in-hand. Tell us about your best foodie experiences while filming?
Chris:
We ate some excellent foodies. I ate Terry Durack for lunch one day, and followed it up with Matt Preston for dinner.
Josh:
An American backpacker gave me a bag of homemade green biscuits; I shared them with my driver. We got lost on someone’s vineyard and followed a double rainbow to a watering hole full of pink dolphins. I regret not asking the backpacker for his recipe. Good bickies.
All of the wineries on the show were reached by car. Which wine region provides the best road trip from Sydney?
Chris:
We didn’t actually travel by car for the show. That’s all just CGI. We actually took the world’s longest travelator to reach each region. It took hours.
Josh:
The one that passes the Big Merino. I love that thing. It’s so big.
Before filming the show, how much did you know about wine? What did you learn?
Josh:
Before filming the show I thought that they just let the grapes get mouldy and then squashed them but I now know that they convert the carbohydrates from the fruit into alcohols and carbon dioxide or organic acids using yeasts, bacteria, or a combination thereof, under anaerobic conditions. I know what you’re thinking but you’re wrong – I didn’t just copy and paste that from Wikipedia, I know this stuff for real now.
Tell us about the best hotel you stayed at when you were on the road for PLONK?
Chris:
I’m a method actor, so I never stayed in hotels. I slept each night inside a wine barrel to immerse myself into the character.
Josh, You have a blog, shirazamataz.tumblr.com, where you document behind-the-scenes of the PLONK series. I saw that you got to meet Chief Funster, Andrew Smith. Did you get to meet any other notable Aussies on your trip around NSW?
Josh:
I got to meet Chris Taylor. Although, by the end of the shoot I was told to stay at least fifty metres away from him at all times and I couldn’t look him in the eye (not even from fifty metres away).
The Hunter Valley is probably NSW’s most well-known wine region. Do you have any insider’s tips on the region that regulars might not even know about?
Chris:
The Bunnings at Maitland has a great 2-for-1 deal on eskies at the moment.
If you could go wine tasting with any celebrity, who would it be and why?
Chris:
The Dalai Lama – because he doesn’t drink, so there’d be more wine left for me.
Josh:
Chris Taylor. My Mum’s lawyer is looking into the fifty-metre rule.
Chris, I saw an interview of you recently where you mentioned that some of your family actually called you after having seen PLONK, thinking that the show was a documentary and you were playing a serious role. Do you resonate with the on-set Chris Taylor at all, or is it all for the show?
Chris:
I don’t resonate with any version of Chris Taylor. I find him extremely aloof.
Where to next for the PLONK team?
Chris:
Bunnings, obviously. Weren’t you listening about that amazing esky deal?!!
Josh:
Season two is in the pipeline, as is a line of PLONK beauty products.
The PLONK crew
Watch episode one here:
What’s your favourite NSW wine region? Tell us below in the comments.