I spent 31 years helping companies sell stories. Champagne is the greatest story ever sold. And the profits are frothy. It's time someone told the truth about it — ideally with a drink in hand.
— Prétentieux vin Branleur, The Brut Truth
NOW SHOWING IN MELBOURNE CBD
A fast, funny, and fizzy ride through the dark history, myths, marketing, and madness of Champagne.
Five French champagnes - tasted blind.
One recovering marketing executive.
Zero pretension.
In residence - Melbourne CBD.
50 seats per show - selling fast
The Show
You sit down. Over the next 80 minutes, five glasses appear in front of you, as your host Prétentieux vin Branleur — recovering marketing executive and serious champagne nerd — takes you on a blind tasting through the world's most brilliantly marketed grape juice.
What's actually in the bottle? What's pure myth? And why does an $18 Prosecco sometimes beat a $180 Champagne in a blind taste? The answers are funnier — and more alarming — than you'd expect.
The Brut Truth is comedy for people who love wine, wine education for people who love comedy, and a gentle dismantling of marketing techniques for anyone who's ever been upsold by an intoxicating story.
I spent 31 years helping companies sell stories. Champagne is the greatest story ever sold. And the profits are frothy. It's time someone told the truth about it — ideally with a drink in hand.
— Prétentieux vin Branleur, The Brut Truth
The Format
Blind tasting. No labels. No snobbery. All bubbles.
Suspect A
The Marketing Machine
Suspect B
The Bargain
Suspect C
The Hidden Gem
Suspect D
The Real Deal
Suspect E
The Imposter
Which one's the 'real deal'? Which one's been lying to you? You'll find out — after you've already formed your own opinion.
Show Dates
Inuman Cocktail Bar (Askal Restaurant)
Exhibition St, Melbourne
About Prétentieux vin Branleur
Prétentieux vin Branleur is a Melbourne-born lad, raised by two rather sozzled francophiles.
He spent 31 years as an international marketing consultant in the IT industry — helping companies sell stories, shape perceptions, and charge more than their product might otherwise justify.
He also collects wine. A lot of it. According to his partner, too much.
The intersection of those two worlds — premium wine marketing and the willingness of otherwise rational people to pay for a brand — is where The Brut Truth was born.
"I thought: someone should make a show about this. Then I realised I was the someone."
Stay in the Loop
New show dates, occasional dispatches from the front lines of champagne mythology, and the kind of email you'll actually open. Pret does not believe in over-communication. He is French.
Media & Press
Complimentary review tickets are available for accredited media. We're happy to arrange interviews, preview access, and photo opportunities. Press kit available on request. Fill in the form below and we'll be in touch promptly — or at least before the bubbles go flat.
