Corkscrew: The highly improbable, but occasionally true, tale of a professional wine buyer

Felix, a tragic orphan, is expelled from school, cast out onto the British high street, and forced to make his way in the cut-throat world of wine retail. Thanks to a positive mental attitude, he is soon forging a promising career, his sensual adventures taking him to the vineyards of Italy, South Africa, Bulgaria and Kent. His path to the summit, however, is littered with obstacles. Petty office politics, psychotic managers and the British Board of Wine & Liquor prove challenging enough. But when Felix negotiates the world's biggest Asti Spumante deal, he is plunged into a vicious world of Mafiosi, people smuggling and ruthless multinationals. Part thriller, part self-help manual, and part drinking companion, Corkscrew is a coruscating critique of neo-liberal capitalism, religious intolerance and the perils of blind tasting.… (more)