After reading this
beautifully rendered memoir, you’ll never sip a glass of wine and think of it
in the same way!
The captivating
story of a resourceful young female sommelier who overcame countless obstacles
to become an award-winning wine expert and restaurateur.
Victoria James (Drink
Pink: A Celebration of Rosé) retraces the rocky road she traveled to
become an award-winning wine expert who, at the age of 21, was the youngest
sommelier to lead a Michelin-starred restaurant.
She divides her
story into seven sections, mapping her life from age seven to 28. The prologue
perfectly embodies the theme and tone of the memoir: James, a newbie sommelier
at an upscale restaurant, must deliver a $650 bottle of chardonnay from
Burgundy, France, to an elite, grossly chauvinistic customer. James quells her
nervousness and uncorks the bottle, following protocol with "calculated precision."
She tastes and approves the wine, which she describes as "like slipping
into a bed made up with silk sheets." After the patron takes his own sip,
he verbally demeans James--her youth and inexperience--and orders her to take
the bottle back and uncork another. What ensues is an apt metaphor for James's
life as she takes on the patron and her own fears, managing to appease the
customer and her bosses, while also endearing herself to readers who will
eagerly empathize with and root for her.
How she deals with
challenges and conflicts--and proves to be a tenacious problem-solver,
undaunted overcomer and go-getter--are what make James and her underdog story
so appealing. Her flowing narrative defines and explains many terms used to
describe wine and its aficionados. One word, however, sums up James's utterly
engrossing coming-of-age and success story--Wonderful!
Ecco, $26.99
Hardcover, 9780062961679, 336 pages
Publication Date: March 24, 2020
NOTE: This review is a reprint and is being posted with
the permission of Shelf Awareness. To read this review on Shelf
Awareness: Reader's Edition
(March 27, 2020), link HERE
To read the longer form of this review as published on Shelf Awareness for the Book Trade (March 5, 2020), link HERE