Living Life as an Open Book

Talking wine and robots with CBC’s Kathryn Borel Jr., author of “Corked”.

Courtesy of Kathryn Borel Jr.

Kathryn embodies similar characteristics to a fine Pinot Noir: she’s complex, and can only truly reveal herself after spending time with you. The producer for CBC Radio One’s national arts and culture show, Q, has recently dedicated her time to writing her memoir: Corked. Simply put, it’s about a drunken father-daughter road trip around the French countryside; touring vineyards and discovering a stronger bond they have with each other over wine. Clearly, we were desperate to ask this quirky connoisseur about what she’s learned about wine – and hell, while we’re at it – what she’s learned about robots too.

Pony: Your writing style appears so confident. At what point did you find your voice with writing?

Kathryn: My style wasn’t really something I discovered or tripped over… It was just the way I wrote. I remember being encouraged by an English teacher in high school – I was going to an all boys school at the time and Mr. Keating (my teacher) was angry with me for not completing this poetry exercise, so he made me stand on top of his desk and yell a word Walt Whitman had invented: YAWP. It came from this quote: “I sound my barbaric yawp.” At first I was embarrassed, standing like that on his desk, because deep down I felt worthless. But as I looked down on my expectant classmates – and with the encouragement of Mr. Keating – I opened my mouth and said… Wait. That’s not right.

Pony: Not right?

Kathryn: In reality, I realized I had a good relationship with words when I went on my requisite post-undergraduate “find your soul in Southeast Asia” trip. This was in 2001, a few months after graduating with a passable B+ average from journalism school. I left for Indonesia on September 10th – 9/11 had happened a few hours after I touched down a layover in Tokyo. I then spent four months traveling and journaling like a crazy person. At the end of the trip, I read over my stuff and recognized it wasn’t so terrible – so I kept at it. Eventually I started a blog, you know, when blogs were “The Thing”… I accrued a bunch of readers from around North America. Then I wrote too much about my sex life with my boyfriend and he found out (the blog was anonymous) and so he frog-marched me to an Internet café and made me erase the whole thing.

Pony: Bastard...

Kathryn: We then broke up and I kept writing.

Pony: What does your dad think about Corked? There’s a lot of personal stuff in there.

Kathryn: He loves it, thank the God I don’t believe in. He’s currently reading it for the sixth time. The first couple of times he went through it, it made him sob (according to my mother). I’m relieved I was not privy to that, as my heart would have likely shriveled up like an apple core. My father trusted my love for him – and my capacity for honesty and insight into his character, I think. Because of that, he never put up any barriers in terms of what I wanted to write. The book has had a pretty resounding effect on our relationship – we understand each other so intuitively now. I’m so insanely thankful for that. It really could have gone the other way.

Pony: On to wine, what’s your advice to those of us who walk around the LCBO bewildered and lost?

Kathryn: Try to go to one of the bigger LCBOs, where there’s staff that has had some wine training (the Summerhill LCBO has terrific resources – or one of their Vintages shops.) There are a bajillion wines out there… Do NOT be afraid to ask for help. If you’ve had a wine you’ve liked in the past, note it down, find a staffer, tell them your budget, why you liked the wine, and ask them if they can point you to something that is similar or maybe a little more challenging.

Courtesy of Kathryn Borel Jr.

Or, if I’m in a rush, my default wine is always something from the Languedoc region of France, ideally from 2005. It was one of the best vintages in the last 100 years, and Languedoc is JUST realizing that their wines are amazing – as in, they’re not considered “big shots” yet in the wine-making world, so there’s a good chance you’ll get good value for your dollar.

Pony: Are there any wines you highly recommend getting? That are available at the LCBO?

Kathryn: There’s Cotes Du Rhone, Chateau de la Tuilerie 2007. It’s a Syrah/Grenache blend. The vintage reference number is: 126128. It’s about $16. I drank this wine, but from an earlier vintage; a few hours before my father and I had a huge fight and I tried to plow the car we were traveling in into a tree. He pulled the wheel in the opposite direction before I managed to go through with committing murder-suicide.

Pony: I’m amazed you were able to remember the wine! Any others?

Kathryn: From Languedoc there’s Donnadieu, Cuvée Mathieu et Marie, Clos Bagatelle 2005. Vintage number: 43646 at about $16 as well. This was my happiest day with my father on the trip. The woman who makes this wine, Christine Simon, is one of the most profoundly generous and kind and funny and impish women I’ve ever met. It comes through in the flavour.

Courtesy of Kathryn Borel Jr.

Pony: And what are your thoughts on Tetrapak wine?

Kathryn: Wine is pleasure. Part of the pleasure, for me, includes the ceremony of opening the bottle and having the label on display and watching a droplet roll down the side and stain the tablecloth – feeling the weight of the glass in my hand as I serve it, etc. I understand the convenience of Tetrapak wine, but I don’t buy it.

Pony: You’re very open about yourself in your memoir, did you ever feel nervous publishing the private stuff?

Kathryn: I was nervous. I still am, to a certain extent. But I hope all the self-scouring I did and the ugliness and HUMANITY that’s on display in this book will be useful to someone. Or if I’m lucky: a bunch of someones. I’ve thought a lot about it and I’ve come to the decision that I wrote the best book I could at this point. Writing the best book I could meant opening up the suitcases full of dirty clothes and dumping them all over my lawn. So there it is.

Pony: There it is. Have people started calling you “Tootsie” since reading your book?

Kathryn: Are people actually buying that thing?

Pony: If you were to come out with a second book, what would it be about?

Kathryn: I have a rough idea of what I want to write about next. But I haven’t worked it out yet. It involves eggs.

Pony: Eggs. On to an equally random topic: explain to us this robot collection of yours.

Kathryn: A few years ago, my boyfriend at the time, Peter (he’s in the book), bought me a red tin robot. We called him “Neutron, Robot Man”. He then wrote me a love story about two robots, which he had printed and bound for my 22nd birthday. Accompanying this little book was another tin robot: a blue one we named “Esmerelda”. Now people buy me robots as gifts. I love them because robots have no feelings. And sometimes I feel too much and I hate my feelings because they’re stupid.

Pony: Feelings are never stupid. How do you feel about the restaurants in Toronto? Does it all come down to the wine selection?

Kathryn: A great wine selection helps, but a good restaurant in my opinion is one with a consistency of character.

Pony: Not unlike a good wine.

XoXo
– The Cowgirls.

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Rating: +2 (from 4 votes)

Category: Back Fence, Latest Goods, Prized Pony · Posted by: Mushy Pony Tagged: As It Happens, CBC Radio One, Corked, Kathryn Borel Jr on Wednesday, September 30, 2009 · No Comments »