Wine with buttons
When one thinks wine bar, words that come to mind are ‘stuffy’ and ‘pretentious’, along with imagery of Central suits swirling their glasses exchanging banter of questionable expertise about the drink derived from fermented grapes.
Situated off Wellington Street, it’d be easy to presume the same of Tastings. But you couldn’t be more wrong. Tastings is a futuristic urban vineyard; instead of the sky, there’s a motorised cloud and ambient blue lighting, and there might not be vines, but there is Italian wallpaper that imitates it. And most importantly, there’s no pouring from wine bottles – who needs humans when we have machines?
Introducing the Enomatic wine system, where a glass of wine is just the press of a button away. Without doubt the most entertaining part of Tastings, the Enomatic is an interactive bar where you get to play bartender.
At all times, the machine has 40 wines on tap for as cheap as $14 a shot. This is the one place where if you dislike the wine you ordered, you don’t have to feel bad about not buying the bottle. Enomatic allows people with smaller budgets to try higher end wines, such as the lush 2003 Chateau Lascombes Margaux from France, which is $1400 a bottle, but can be tasted for just $70.
The crowd is usually diverse, wearing anything from T-shirts to tailored suits. Look out for the charming owner and hostess Charlene, who is on hand to entertain the endless crowd, catering even to those who get her name wrong (we’re sorry!). Lest the endless sampling gets too much, Tasting has plenty of cheeses, olives, and antipastos to keep lightweights afloat. Bourree Lam
27 & 29 Wellington St, Central. Mon-Thurs 5pm-2am. Fri & Sat 4pm-2am. Closed Sun. 2523 6282.