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

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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. The educational elements - be it around sensation and perception, affective neuroscience, or behavioral economics - were comprehensible for psychology grad students and civilian readers alike.

The New York Times bestselling author of Cork Dork takes readers on another fascinating, hilarious, and revelatory journey—this time burrowing deep inside the impassioned, secretive world of art and artists 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 JuiceFor readers of Anthony Bourdain, Susan Orlean, and Mary Roach, a surprising, entertaining and hilarious journey through the world of wine. After a little more time reading, however, I thought that, under the layers of conspicuous consumption, fraud, etc., sommeliers and other wines nerds are actually more appealing because they are genuinely interested in beauty in a way that memory artists (who are mostly interested in showing off how smart they are) were not. Not only did sommeliers want to drink delicious, handsome-looking wine, made with care and mindfulness, but they also (generally) wanted to wear attractive clothes, eat good and healthy food, provide memorably pleasant experiences for others, and be in attractively-decorated surroundings. Sadly, all of the above are limited by the fact that attractive clothes, good and healthy food, etc.. inevitably cost more than the alternative, leading to the inevitable desire to extract money from the well-to-do, no matter how unpleasant they (the well-to-do) are.

Summary: Light, funny, and engaging mix of personal experience, history and science in the style of Mary Roach. Disclaimer: Many thanks to Penguin Random House for the opportunity to read and review. Please assured that my opinions are honest. 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. But the tasting sessions they live for, the money they spend, the endurance and tolerance for so. much. wine.......it's a journey. It's a journey I personally would not be up for with the expense and my non-discriminating palate, never mind being kind to my liver. I buy wine because I like having it with dinner.This book freaked me out. Bosker’s accessible, conversational spelunking into the world of contemporary art so powerfully rehydrated the PTSD in me between the little kid artist I once was with the self-consciously constricted thinker I became in art school that at one point I simply had to put it down, shaken.If you’ve ever wondered 'what happened' to art—galleries, critics, collectors—and, of course, artists—then this book is a very companionable start. It’s also very funny, to say nothing of very vivid. And, confoundingly, very, very difficult to put down.”— Chris Ware, New Yorker artist/writer, author of Building Stories and Whitney Biennial selectee (2002) 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. Get the Picture is a brilliant adventure through the fraught, frenzied, fanatical world of art and emerging artists. Bosker flings us into the epicenter of creativity and obsession, and with infectious curiosity, illuminates the surprising science, history, and controversies at the core of our relationship with art. An extraordinary book.”— Kirk Wallace Johnson, author of The Feather Thief Beaten, Seared, and Sauced: On Becoming a Chef at the Culinary Institute of America, by Jonathan Dixon

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 also mentions that the term “unicorn wine” is a rare, small-production gem that sommeliers consider status symbols. I'm sure that there are nearly as many of these as there are obscure subcultures to write about, but a best-selling example of this format is Moonwalking with Einstein, about the subculture of memory arts.The “tongue map”, which they forced me to learn in elementary school, has been debunked (p. 83, 88). Today's wine jargon (e.g., “layers of grapefruit and minerality”) was invented by a group of scientists at the University of California, Davis, in the 1970s, or, as the author put it, wine's “naturalistic, food-based lexicon is about as traditional as disco” (p. 203).