Crush

In Crush Nicholas OConnell provides a behind-the-scenes look at the daily operations of some of the worlds most prestigious wineries on the West Coast. This insiders view of the wine world includes the intense competition for the best grapes, the bizarre lingo of the tasting rooms, and the visionary winemakers who magically transform grapes into high-end wine. It is a world that includes not only romance and refinement but long hours, back-breaking labor, mind-numbing repetition, and fanatical dedication to quality. Such devotion resulted in the 1973 Stags Leap Wine Cellars Cabernet that won the best red wine at the 1976 Judgment of Paris and transformed the U.S. wine industry. OConnells quest to master the art of winemaking begins in his garage. From there he embarks on an apprenticeship at Betz and DeLille Cellar and other great wineries in California, Oregon, and Washington. He provides a first-person, ground-up view of a business not yet fully explored despite record interest in wine. OConnell also includes conversations with some of the worlds most gifted vintners, including Warren Winiarski, former owner of Stags Leap Wine Cellars. Wine is surrounded by a seemingly impenetrable cloud of descriptorswet dog, kumquats, cat peeand a fog of pretention. Crush pierces this fog with colorful, concrete storytelling, in-depth portraits of famous winemakers, and a lively, down-to-earth description of the process by which wine is made: not in the critics mind but in the winery and vineyard.