Evolution of a Wine Drinker, by Alicia Bien, is an adorable read about her journey from being a college beer partier to becoming knowledgeable about wine.
Her journey begins with taking what was going to be a slam dunk, easy senior course. Instead, it turned into a bit of a nightmare, with Captain Sargent leading the torture… Even when it made that turn, an older Marine is still a Marine, after all,… and, you WILL get it.
Alicia Bien is Charming
If you’re beginning a wine journey, I strongly recommend this book. You’ll be inspired, most especially if you’re also a writer. Chronicle it, as I’m doing everyday on my own wine blog, as a wine publicist. Chronicle it with your own special twist. Alicia is also a screenwriter and head writer for the live sketch show Top Story! Weekly in Hollywood. You can follow her at newhousegirl.blogspot.com.
What I enjoyed about her book:
- Sense of humor at every turn
- Beginning each journey with the challenge
- Ending each chapter with a fun outcome
- Creating her bullet points, like I love to do…
- Kindred spirits abound
Twenty three years of learning, teaching, and enjoying wine, and sill/always there will be more to learn… We all can learn more about wine.
[This is an image I took of a cork tree in Portugal. Notice the date of harvest on the tree. This is cork maintenance, and keeps harvest on track for every nine to 10 years.]
My greatest takeaway: Chapter 22 ~ Ullage, Uvula, U Know
“Ullage is the small space of air in a bottle between the top and the the bottom of the cork. This air space is provided to allow for any expansion of the liquid during storage. As wine ages this space-the ullage-grows because the wine is evaporating slowly through the cork.”
Who knew that there is a name for that air space between the top of the bottle of wine and where it meets the wine. U?
You’re also going to love Captain Sargent, no matter who you are. We’ve all got someone like that in our lives. For me it was Mr. Buckley, my first biology teacher. If your paper was perfect, he’d find that one spelling error that had absolutely nothing to do with biology. I could have been – and probably was – writing “hear” when I meant “here,” as I worked diligently to spell “abscission ” correctly.
This is a fun read, from a humorous writer, that I highly recommend, regardless of who you are. It’s a quick, quirky read that will leave you wanting more.
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