Cork Dork

Bianca Bosker was a working journalist and a casual drinker who knew little about wine. Then she stumbled into a hidden world run by sommeliers, people who organize their entire lives around flavor and who seem to taste things the rest of us cannot. Their devotion fascinated her, and she decided to find out what fueled it and whether she could join their ranks as a "cork dork."

To do it, she leaves the sidelines and gets involved. Her search takes her into underground tasting groups, high-end New York City restaurants, and the huge California facilities that turn out wine for the mass market. She even ends up inside a neuroscientist's fMRI machine, where researchers examine what actually happens in the brain when we taste.

Bosker brings curiosity and humor to the project, along with a steady skepticism about the mystique surrounding wine. Her guiding question is a blunt one: why does wine matter so much to so many people? The answer she reaches may change how you think about what is in your glass, and possibly how you approach the rest of your life.