To quote from the book, Bosker explains that a “flight” was no longer something related to a boarding pass.

Life goal: drink as much champagne as Ella Brennan, proprietor of Commander’s Palace and queen of New Orleans, when I’m 91. Always perceptive, curious, and entertaining, the author describes her experiences with precision and a wry sense of humor.

I do see the book as my way of having the conversation that I would have as a sommelier maybe once, maybe twice a night, with tens or hundreds or, God willing, thousands of readers,” she said. 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. If you have sen wine-focused films such as Somm, some of the scenes that Bosker describes will be familiar to you. The brouhaha finally culminated in a series of tweets by Eric Asimov, the New York Times’s wine critic.

A savory romp…[that reveals] not just the intricacies and nuances of flavor that vary from grape to grape, but why wine has become such a social staple for the entire world—and how the way we drink it can potentially change our lives. I should say that I lost my sense of smell for several months in 2014, and the experience was sufficiently awful that I’ve been on the lookout for ways to improve my olfaction ever since, both in the hope that it won’t go away again, or that if it does that it’ll come back more quickly–or, worst case scenario, that if it doesn’t come back, at least I’ll be able to say I’d enjoyed it fully.

Bosker, quite understandably, asks for clarification: “Are there any particular… criteria that goes into yummy? If you have wondered about the mysteries of wine, and the airs of people who claim to know something about it, Cork Dork is essential reading. Thus begins a year and a half long adventure that takes the reader inside elite tasting groups, exclusive New York City restaurants, a California winery that manipulates the flavor of its bottles with ingredients like Mega Purple, and even a neuroscientist's fMRI machine as Bosker attempts to answer the most nagging question of all: what's the big deal about wine? The 2014 Silverado Vineyards Petit Verdot Mount George Vineyard uses one of five common Bordeaux varietals. Fascinated by their fervour and seemingly superhuman sensory powers, she set out to uncover what drove their obsession, and whether she, too, could become a 'cork dork.

Bianca Bosker’s “Cork Dork: A Wine-Fueled Adventure Among the Obsessive Sommeliers, Big Bottle Hunters, and Rogue Scientists Who Taught Me to Live for Taste” is a compendium of bewitching and sometimes disgusting facts. It was recently published on 3/28/17 by Penguin Books, an imprint of Penguin Random House, paperback, 352 pages.Several years ago we watched the documentary, Somm, which documented the rigors of becoming a master sommelier (a "cork dork"). m. blind tastings with the highest-level sommeliers in the city, seems a lot less accessible as a starting point for novices wishing to learn about wine. We use sustainable meats, dairy, and produce as the building blocks of our modern California cuisine.

This, according to Bosker, should help me build a “smell library” in my brain, which in turn should allow me to appreciate and enjoy the complexity of both wine and food generally.Professional journalist and amateur drinker Bianca Bosker didn’t know much about wine – until she discovered the world of elite sommeliers who dedicate their lives to the pursuit of flavour. Everywhere she goes—whether it's into a busy kitchen or a vineyard, or into her own head—Bianca Bosker takes us with her. 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. I really enjoyed the discussion of smell as a "forgotten" sense, and how other cultures, which rely more heavily on smell, can pick up faint odors that the standard American would completely overlook. She also explores the different ways in which wine can be tasted and evaluated, including the traditional methods used by sommeliers and the newer, more scientific methods used by wine experts.