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

Product Information

The author covers this in depth, and the controversies resulting (not to spill the beans, but some of the ratings are dubious, at best). Not to the extent of the cork dorks and sommeliers within the pages of this book, but nonetheless I love learning about wine so this book was the perfect pairing for me.

There are plenty of things we work on and try to improve about ourselves, but our sensory abilities don’t normally make the list. Some visit us just to be in the bar area, it has a gorgeous rustic charm and a beautiful vintage bike adorning the wall. Well, when author Bianca Bosker gave up her job as a journalist and set out to become a certified sommelier – an expert wine waiter – she started to discover the answers.

We use sustainable meats, dairy, and produce as the building blocks of our modern California cuisine. Life goal: drink as much champagne as Ella Brennan, proprietor of Commander’s Palace and queen of New Orleans, when I’m 91.

There are some simple ways to cleverly detect a wine’s characteristics, and some simple terms to describe them. The Kitchen Confidential of wine: Read this book, and you’ll never be intimidated by wine—or wine snobs—again. Other memorable scenes include a passage when author Bosker explains how her vocabulary has changed as a result of her studies. Bosker was the technology editor of The Huffington Post when she heard about the World’s Best Sommelier Competition.So, she quit her reliable job in journalism, and she spent her mornings tasting and her afternoons hungover. Despite its failure to demystify wine, it’s impossible to read Cork Dork without learning a whole lot about wine, and wanting to learn much, much more; it is therefore a huge accomplishment.

Along the way you'll meet the sort of obsessive types who are always interesting/amusing regardless of what they're obsessing over, go to suspense-filled sommelier competitions and bacchanalian, wine-soaked feasts, tag along with restaurant employees (something I always find fascinating), and learn all about the science of taste. She starts at the bottom of the ladder as a Cellar Rat to learn the basics on wine and to get free tastings on variety of wines producers makes or restaurants purchases.Astounded by their fervor and seemingly superhuman sensory powers, she set out to uncover what drove their obsession, and whether she, too, could become a “cork dork.