Cork Dork: A Wine-Fueled Adventure Among the Obsessive Sommeliers, Big Bottle Hunters, and Rogue Scientists Who Taught Me to Live for the Taste (Thorndike Press Large Print Lifestyles)

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Cork Dork was pitched to me as a text about the rigorous "athletic" training individuals undergo to establish sommelier expertise. I imagined a mostly palatable chronicle of a journalist's journey (not unlike Supersize Me) into the bowels of a subcultural community. The educational elements - be it around sensation and perception, affective neuroscience, or behavioral economics - were comprehensible for psychology grad students and civilian readers alike. Beaten, Seared, and Sauced: On Becoming a Chef at the Culinary Institute of America, by Jonathan Dixon The Devil in the Kitchen: Sex, Pain, Madness and the Making of a Great Chef, by Marco Pierre White and James Steen 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.

The author also goes into the science of wine-making and what makes different wines unique. She looks at why some wines are so much more expensive than others and whether or not the prices really worth it, something I have always wondered about myself. I really appreciated the way that the author did a deep dive into the subject. I used to be SUPER INTO wine, even though I couldn't afford super nice bottles, but these days I'm more mildly interested than wholly enthused. As much as I liked Cork Dork, it didn't necessarily make me want to drink more wine. But that's OK, because Bosker doesn't really have a goal of making the reader drink more wine. What she really wants is for all of us to notice the things we're experiencing, be they tastes or smells, sights or sounds. She strives in this book to become a certified sommelier, but ultimately, her message is that we don't need to be certified in anything to have a full and fascinating life. All we really need to do is learn to pay attention to the world happening around us. I'll raise a glass to that. The “tongue map”, which they forced me to learn in elementary school, has been debunked (p. 83, 88). Ever wondered what people were talking about when discussing the "legs" of a wine, the acidity, the tannins, or the alcohol content? Bosker explains not only what they are, but what they mean. In very simple to understand language. Bosker also mentions that the term “unicorn wine” is a rare, small-production gem that sommeliers consider status symbols.

The Cork Dork

Heat: An Amateur's Adventures as Kitchen Slave, Line Cook, Pasta-Maker, and Apprentice to a Dante-Quoting Butcher in Tuscany, by Bill Buford

Pro: history of wines and sense of smells, steps to become a sommelier, types of wines, blind tasting, secret meetings, informative, humor, cover, step-by-step instructions, very well written,

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With no common sense we promptly opened a bottle of Chardonnay. I'm pleased to say we only had a small glass and saved the rest. :-) The Chablis was the better of the two wines and we would certainly buy it again. 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" Like many of us, tech reporter Bianca Bosker saw wine as a way to unwind at the end of a long day, or a nice thing to have with dinner and that was about it. Until she stumbled on an alternate universe where taste reigned supreme, a world in which people could, 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. Where she tasted wine, these people detected not only complex flavor profiles, but entire histories and geographies. Astounded by their fanatical dedication and seemingly superhuman sensory powers, Bosker abandoned her screen-centric life and set out to discover what drove their obsession, and whether she, too, could become a cork dork. 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.’” Cork Dork follows the adventures of Bianca Bosker from tech journalist to cellar rat in the elite world of wine. Bosker takes us on a journey that reveals what it really takes to become a super-taster like the elite sommeliers around the world. I loved the combination of anecdotal evidence, idiosyncratic methodologies, and scientific research to better understand how you can hone your senses like the professionals. It really is fascinating.

The author documents the 1 1/2 years she spent studying and learning to become a sommelier. She tells of the experiences she had honing her tasting skills while also dishing out some juicy bits about swanky NYC restaurants and the service industry. She also uncovers, often humorously, secrets to the elusive descriptions of the flavors in wine. Cork Dork was fabulous! Reporter Bianca Bosker takes the reader along on her quixotic quest to become a certified sommelier, a journey you will enjoy even if you aren't particularly interested in wine. 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. But what really makes this book come alive is Bosker's writing, lively and funny and blessedly masterful—something by no means guaranteed in a young tech reporter, and such a welcome relief. If you liked Sweetbitter, consider reading Cork Dork, its nerdier nonfiction counterpart.

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Disclaimer: Many thanks to Penguin Random House for the opportunity to read and review. Please assured that my opinions are honest. She is obsessed and tenacious. She somehow wrangles her way into sommelier competitions when she has never served before. She gains access to a scientific conference on smell (and the impact on the brain) in Switzerland. She talks researchers in South Korea into taking an MRI of her brain while sending her sips of wine via a tube to see what areas of her brain light up. The woman who INVENTED the WINE AROMA WHEEL invites Bosker to her KITCHEN to teach her how to find “asparagus” when tasting. Bianca Bosker, previously a technology journalist, gave herself a year and a half to learn everything she could about wine in hopes of passing the Court of Master Sommeliers exam. Along the way she worked in a variety of New York City restaurants, joined blind tasting clubs, attended an olfactory conference, and blagged a TopSomm guest judge spot. The challenge was not just about educating her palate, but also absorbing tons of trivia about wine growers and production methods and learning the accepted standards for sommelier service.

When you inform your friends and relatives that you have left your stable job as a journalist to stay home and taste wines, you will begin to get concerned phone calls. You say: I’m going to hone my senses and find out what the big deal is about wine. They hear: I’m quitting my job to drink all day and improve my chances of ending up homeless.”For readers of Anthony Bourdain, Susan Orlean, and Mary Roach, a surprising, entertaining and hilarious journey through the world of wine. 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.