I finished this about 6 months ago. I found it very entertaining and laughed out loud many times. I would think a person relatively new to wine but bitten by the bug would find it enjoyable and informative. Good page turner for sure.
This.
I read it earlier this year and did not love it. Aside from the pretentiousness that is pervasive, it made me sad. Wine is so fun to explore but like everything else, it can be taken to extremes.
Gotta say, even though I understand why people might get annoyed by some stuff in this book, I really enjoyed it. Even the things that were annoying were more features of the NY wine scene than anything that is the fault of the book or the author. I think the author is a good storyteller, plus frankly there aren’t so many books that are at all interesting or fun about our hobby.
In general I think Bosker is a very lucid, clear, and thoughtful writer about wine and the wine scene. She did some great stuff about wine writing and criticism a few years before this book. Check out this podcast she did on modern “winespeak”:
really good stuff and any wine hobbyist will recognize exactly what she’s talking about. It’s a very fair take I think.