“There’s the faintest soupçon of asparagus and just a flutter of Edam cheese,” says Paul Giamatti in the movie Sideways. Believe it or not, he's describing pinot noir, not quiche. The world of sommeliers, wine lists, and tasting notes is filled with this kind of language, prices seemingly rising in step with the number of bizarre adjectives. It's tempting to dismiss the whole thing as B.S., but listen in: this episode, author Bianca Bosker takes us along on her journey into the history and science behind blind tasting, wine flavor wheels, and the craft of the sommelier. You'll never feel lost in front of a wine list again. (encore) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
We started January with a nice cup of tea and I dont know about you but by this point in the month I could use something a little stronger, a nice glass of wine, maybe.
Something Nikki and I are both pretty huge fans of.
And so is Bianca Bosker, who starred in our Cork Jork episode based on her fantastic book of the same name.
Biancas actually written a new book since then.
Its called get the picture and its coming out in early February and so we thought this would be a great moment to revisit her adventures in wine.
Enjoy this encore edition.
Robitussin freshly molded dildo, peppered raspberry, white raspberry, red raspberry, black raspberry.
I don't know what the difference between all those things are or if they even exist.
You get burnt hair, plum, cow shit.
I don't know about you but I don't think I actually have a good sense of what freshly molded dildo smells like.
Maybe I need to live a little.
I've been stuck on that since Bianca mentioned it in her list of wine descriptions she's heard.
Yes, those are all words people have used to describe the flavor notes they're getting in a glass of wine.
And the Bianca in question is Bianca Bosker.
She's the author of a new book.
Called Cork Dork, a wine fueled adventurer among the obsessive sommeliers, big bottle hunters, and rogue scientists who taught me to live for taste.
I did just read that subtitle off of my book cover because I wanted to make sure I remembered it.
What is a cork dork, you might ask.
If you are the type of person who licks rocks to train your palate, if you're the type of person who may divorce your spouse so you can spend more time studying wine flashcards, or if you're the kind of person that calls what you do a blood sport with corkscrews, you are a cork dork.
Bianca is a cork dork.