Corkscrew: The Highly Improbable, but Occasionally True, Tale of a Professional Wine Buyer - Paperback

by Peter Stafford-Bow (Author)

Felix, a tragic orphan, is expelled from school, cast 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.

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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.

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Part thriller, part self-help manual and part drinking companion, Corkscrew is a humorous satire of neo-liberal capitalism, religious intolerance and the perils of blind tasting.

Finalist in the People's Book Prize 2018