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PEOPLE & ARTS Tuesday 4 april 2017
A31

Review: ‘Cork Dork’ celebrates wine, sommeliers

KEVIN BEGOS times frightening look at the ments that at times som- echoes the standard that
Associated Press sublime tastes, enormous meliers recommend very master sommeliers strive
Sommelier is a simple yet egos and curious rules of expensive wines without for: quietly confident but
mysterious job title. The a profession that is both in- having tasted them, be- not arrogant.
most basic translation from sanely rigorous and occa- cause “others recom- “Cork Dork” also has an
the French might be wine sionally ridiculous. Why, for mended them to us.” enjoyable sprinkling of sci-
expert, but then how ex- example, are sommeliers Yet amid all the steely-eyed ence, from psychology to
actly does one attain that supposed to identify wine reporting, “Cork Dork” still brain scans of people as
status? in blind tastings? We don’t radiates the joy of expe- they drink wine. As her own
Bianca Bosker decided to ask food critics to score res- riencing new tastes and tastes evolve, Bosker gives
find out in “Cork Dork,” a taurants blindfolded. awe at the seemingly end- readers the equivalent of
journey that reads like a Bosker explores such issues less range of flavors that a “Kitchen Confidential”
wine lover’s equivalent of head on, noting that world- emerge from what begins tour inside New York City’s
Dante’s “The Divine Com- class sommeliers can seem as only grape juice. The wine world, and that alone
edy”: There is paradise, but oblivious to legitimate sommeliers that Bosker falls is worth the price of the
only after glimpses of pur- questions about what they in with work incredibly hard book. Forget wine jargon:
gatory and hell. do. “It was like the wine and are truly obsessed with the psychology of sizing This book cover image re-
leased by Penguin Books
Bosker, formerly a tech world was stuck in a giant wine and grapes, down up customers is part of be- shows, “Cork Dork: A Wine-
writer, decides to seek cer- game of telephone, and to minute, arcane details. ing a master sommelier. In Fueled Adventure Among the
tification from the Court of the message had become That passion, in the end, is other words, don’t offer Obsessive Sommeliers, Big
Master Sommeliers, which an indecipherable mess,” a good thing, and worthy cheap bottles to obviously Bottle Hunters, and Rogue Sci-
administers a series of Bosker writes of blind tast- of respect. wealthy customers, and entists Who Taught Me to Live
for Taste,” by Bianca Bosker.
hugely demanding tests ing groups. Wine is intimidating. A don’t spend too much time Associated Press
designed for people al- One critic confesses to us- good sommelier can help with novices, if other tables
ready in the restaurant and ing the word “quince” beginners find their way, or wait on a busy night. be thankful. Bosker takes
hotel trade. Bosker started to describe aromas, be- lead experts to new experi- You may or may not want us on a quirky, perilous and
from scratch, as a wine cause no one knows what ences. Bosker does that as to become a sommelier sometimes beautiful tour
novice. The result is a funny, a quince is, and the word a writer, too, with an hon- after reading “Cork Dork,” of a world few will ever
thought-provoking and at sounds fancy. Bosker la- est, appealing voice that but either way readers can experience.q