Overview
In Crush Nicholas O’Connell provides a behind-the-scenes look at the daily operations of some of the world’s most prestigious wineries on the West Coast. This insider’s 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, backbreaking labor, mind-numbing repetition, and fanatical dedication to quality. Such devotion resulted in the 1973 Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars Cabernet that won the best red wine at the 1976 Judgment of Paris and transformed the U.S. wine industry. O’Connell’s quest to master the art of wine making 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. O’Connell also includes conversations with some of the world’s most gifted vintners, including Warren Winiarski, former owner of Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars. Wine is surrounded by a seemingly impenetrable cloud of descriptors-“wet dog,” “kumquats,” “cat pee”-and 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 critic’s mind but in the winery and vineyard.
Full Product Details
Author: Nicholas O'Connell
Publisher: Potomac Books Inc
Imprint: Potomac Books Inc
ISBN: 9781640126312
ISBN 10: 1640126317
Pages: 248
Publication Date: 01 July 2025
Audience:
General/trade
,
General
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active
Availability: In Print
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Reviews
“Nicholas O’Connell’s Crush is a lively, personal tour through the joys—and travails—of making wine and is also packed with information and insights about wine in general. It’s an engaging read for anyone who starts feeling that crazy itch that they’d like, someday, to make their own wine—or for anyone who loves wine.”—Ray Isle, executive wine editor of Food & Wine and wine and spirits editor for Travel + Leisure “Nicholas O’Connell’s level of experience is phenomenal: his decades of making wine, his writing style, and his obsession with making wine. This feels like once-in-a-lifetime work because it includes twenty-plus years of living, social drinking, and learning about wine. It is a memoir mirrored by winemaking. It is humble and humorous. Nothing else touches it.”—Mike Medberry, author of The Dark Side of the Moon and viticulturist at Frog’s Tooth Winery “I’d wager there aren’t many wine lovers who haven’t fantasized, at least for a minute, about making their own wine. Nicholas O’Connell helps you scratch that itch without having to deal with swarms of fruit flies or take-their-time fermentations. O’Connell has taught writing for decades, and his considerable skills show in his vivid account of turning grapes into wine.”—Dorothy J. Gaiter, senior editor of Grape Collective
Author Information
Nicholas O’Connell is based in Washington State and is the founder of the Writer’s Workshop. He contributes to media outlets such as Newsweek, Food & Wine, the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, and National Geographic Adventure. O’Connell is the author of five books, including The Storms of Denali: A Novel and On Sacred Ground: The Spirit of Place in Pacific Northwest Literature.
