Cork Dork: A Wine-Fuelled Journey into the Art of Sommeliers and the Science of Taste

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When tech reporter Bianca Bosker stumbled across a wine tasting competition, she was blown away by the ability of sommeliers to "after a single sip of wine, identify the grape it was made from, in what year, and where it was produced down to the exact location, within acres." She was also intrigued by their passion for wine, as well as the passion of the many creators and collectors of wine. To determine what made wine so special to these people, she gave up her job and decided to try to become a sommelier herself. Starting as a 'cellar rat', storing and retrieving bottles of wine, she slowly works her way into the wine world. She eventually attends exclusive tasting groups and visits expensive restaurants and dinners for dedicated wine collectors. She also learns about the science of wine tasting and wine creation. This is the story of her experiences and what she learned.

Bosker also mentions that the term “unicorn wine” is a rare, small-production gem that sommeliers consider status symbols. Bosker breaks open the world of your favorite beverage...[bringing]readers on her year-plus adventure of learning about everything from production to consumption." –Bustle, "The 20 Best Nonfiction Books Coming In March 2017" There are so many Wine Economists in the US that there is an American Association of Wine Economists (p. 212), which (not for the first time) made me wonder why there are so many fun and fascinating professions that my high school guidance counselor was seemingly unaware, and therefore failed to recommend that I go into. In Get the Picture—curious but not naïve, gossipy but generous, critical but admiring, hilarious but profound—Bosker probes the human thirst for art, examines the addictive high it gives, and rescues the unfashionable idea of beauty, of the pleasure of creation, from the theorists and the marketeers. This book is sheer pleasure: the best book I've ever read about contemporary art.” —Benjamin Moser, Pulitzer Prize winning author of Sontag, and The Upside-Down World: Meetings with the Dutch MastersBosker is a journalist who learns of a sommelier exam and drops everything to learn more about wine from production to service and better understand and appreciate it. That sounds so dry. I’m not doing her justice. Here’s how she describes it, “it sounded like the least fun anyone’s ever had with alcohol. But I love a competition, the less athletic and more gluttonous the better, so when I got home that night, I did some digging to see what this sommelier face-off was all about.” Cork Dorkis a brilliant feat of screwball participatory journalism and Bianca Bosker is a gonzo nerd prodigy.This hilarious, thoughtful and erudite book that may be the ultimate answer to the perennial question of whether or not wine connoisseurship is a scam.” –Jay McInerney, author of The Juice Pairings: 2015 Pedernales Texas Albarino & 2014 Silverado Vineyards Petit Verdot. I selected both of these wines because they are unlikely gems in the wine world, just like Bianca Bosker’s Cork Dork. An award-winning journalist obsessed with obsession, Bianca Bosker’s existence was upended when she wandered into the art world—and couldn’t look away. Intrigued by artists who hyperventilate around their favorite colors and art fiends who max out credit cards to show hunks of metal they think can change the world, Bosker grew fixated on understanding why art matters and how she—or any of us—could engage with it more deeply. Beaten, Seared, and Sauced: On Becoming a Chef at the Culinary Institute of America, by Jonathan Dixon

This book is in a familiar format for a certain category of non-fiction books, which is: Author stumbles on obscure subculture operating quietly but openly, usually, in New York City. Author investigates subculture and becomes fascinated. Author learns about the fiercely competitive high-stakes championship competitions of the subculture. Author takes it on his- or herself to enter, train, and perhaps even win fiercely-competitive high-stakes championship of the subculture, even though he or she is a newcomer and people normally train for years and/or endure many failed attempts before winning fiercely-competitive etc.Summary: Light, funny, and engaging mix of personal experience, history and science in the style of Mary Roach. Throughout the book, Bosker is not only drinking wine and having a good time, but veers off into exploring many wine-related areas. The science of smell, and of taste. The type of people who are avid wine collectors. The new controversial practice of creating whatever type of wine you want in a factory, including being able to replicate some very expensive wines. The terminology of sommeliers and wine merchants (necrophiliacs, hand sells, trigger wines, and cougar juice, for a few). And what to watch for when dealing with a sommelier. On how to open a bottle of sparkling wine: “The cork should be twisted and released into a napkin with a pfft sound no louder than—and these are the technical terms I was given—a ‘nun’s fart,’ or ‘Queen Elizabeth passing gas.’” My husband and I are hardly wine connoisseurs. We drink wine, enjoy wine, and attend wine tastings when we get the chance, but liking and enjoying wine is far different than knowing wine. Several years ago we watched the documentary, Somm, which documented the rigors of becoming a master sommelier (a "cork dork"). Which, by the way, is tough, very tough. So I was thrilled to receive a copy of this book and get an inside look into the world of wine.