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

Indian Valley was smoky. Cooking smells began to emerge as the farmland disappeared. San Rafael smelled like sweet-and-sour chicken; Larkspur like potatoes cooking with rosemary. The hulking shadows of Muir Woods provided a final blast of nature—resinous pine and bark, moss, with a hint of shoe polish. I smelled the salty brine of sea air mixed with a thick, soapy perfume of detergent and garlic even before I saw the signs for San Francisco. It was then that I realized I’d driven the whole way without turning on the radio. I’d had other things to pay attention to. CHAPTER NINE The Performance Since I finally had the right words to talk about wine, I was eager to try my hand at recommending bottles to others. But if you think it’s hard to get a