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

(The French are a notable exception: Evidently viewing an astute palate as a critical life skill along with grammar and math, in 1990 the French government launched “taste education classes” throughout the country’s primary schools. These included lessons on describing odors, smelling via retro-nasal olfaction, and savoring the distinctive character of French cheeses.)