CORK DORK
The IRB's Celebrating 10 Years of Intelligent Reviews October 2007-October 2017 Nonfiction Kindergarten for oenophiles CORK DORK: A Wine-Fueled Adventure Among the Obsessive Sommeliers, Big Bottle Hunters, and Rogue Scientists Who Taught Me to Live for Taste By Bianca Bosker 329 pp. Penguin Reviewed by Marty Carlock Journalist Bianca Bosker thought it would make a good story to train to be a sommelier. What could be cooler? I mean, visit vineyards, hang out with some of the most discriminating people on the planet, and drink lots of wine. It turned out to be much, much harder than it sounds. You can’t just start pouring wine and call yourself a sommelier. “Sommelier” is a title reserved for a studious, elite, fanatic group that has passed grueling examinations given by the Court of Master Sommeliers. For fun, they meet for blind tastings several times a week. They study flash cards. They go to distributor events to taste scores of wines in a few hours. They hone thei...