{"product_id":"crush-my-year-as-an-apprentice-winemaker-hardback-9781640126312","title":"Crush; My Year As an Apprentice Winemaker (Hardback) 9781640126312","description":"\u003cfont face=\"Georgia\"\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"6\"\u003eCrush\u003c\/font\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\r\n\u003cfont size=\"5\"\u003eMy Year As an Apprentice Winemaker\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"4\"\u003eNicholas O'Connell (Author)\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003e9781640126312\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003eHardback, published 1 July 2025\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003e248 pages, 18 photographs, index\u003cbr\u003e22.9 x 15.2 x 1.5 cm, 0.666 kg\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\u003cp align=\"justify\"\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003e\u003cdiv\u003e“Nicholas O’Connell’s \u003ci\u003eCrush\u003c\/i\u003e 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 \u003ci\u003eFood \u0026amp; Wine\u003c\/i\u003e and wine and spirits editor for \u003ci\u003eTravel + Leisure\u003c\/i\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e \u003cdiv\u003e“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 a 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 wine making. It is humble and humorous. Nothing else touches it.”-Mike Medberry, author of \u003ci\u003eThe Dark Side of the Moon\u003c\/i\u003e and viticulturist at Frog’s Tooth Winery\u003c\/div\u003e \u003cdiv\u003e“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 \u003ci\u003eGrape Collective\u003c\/i\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp align=\"justify\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003eIn \u003ci\u003eCrush\u003c\/i\u003e 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.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e 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.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e Wine is surrounded by a seemingly impenetrable cloud of descriptors-“wet dog,” “kumquats,” “cat pee”-and a fog of pretention. \u003ci\u003eCrush\u003c\/i\u003e 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.\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003eList of Illustrations\u003cbr\u003e Acknowledgments\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e Part 1. Crush\u003cbr\u003e 1. Garagiste\u003cbr\u003e 2. Ciel du Cheval: A Wine Lover’\u003cbr\u003es Idea of Heaven\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e Part 2. Washington\u003cbr\u003e 3. The Founding Fathers of the Washington Wine Industry\u003cbr\u003e 4. Betz Family Winery\u003cbr\u003e 5. DeLille Cellars: The Art of Blending\u003cbr\u003e 6. Decision-Making at Canoe Ridge\u003cbr\u003e 7. Picking Grapes\u003cbr\u003e 8. Fermentation and Fruit Flies\u003cbr\u003e 9. Tom Cooks\u003cbr\u003e 10. Pressing: The Merlot Mobile\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e Part 3. Oregon\u003cbr\u003e 11. Learning the Secrets of Making Killer Pinot Noir\u003cbr\u003e 12. Beaux FrÈ\u003cbr\u003eres: Avoiding Getting Lee-ed\u003cbr\u003e 13. Tony Soter: Pinot Noir as an Expression of Place\u003cbr\u003e 14. Ken Wright Visit: Wine as Fundamentally Spiritual\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e Part 4. My Wine Journey\u003cbr\u003e 15. Falling in Love with Wine\u003cbr\u003e 16. On Hallowed Ground: Visiting Bordeaux and the Great Growths\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e Part 5. California\u003cbr\u003e 17. Robert Mondavi: Transforming the Tastes of the Nation\u003cbr\u003e 18. Stag’\u003cbr\u003es Leap: The Search for an American Arcadia\u003cbr\u003e 19. Opus One: The Place Made the Wine\u003cbr\u003e 20. Cain Vineyard and Winery: Letting the Land Speak\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e Part 6. A Question of Balance\u003cbr\u003e 21. Taking Stock: Should I Go Pro?\u003cbr\u003e 22. Wine with Dinner\u003cbr\u003e 23. The Connoisseur: Dan McCarthy\u003cbr\u003e 24. The Heart of Hospitality: Searching for the Spirit of Domaine Tempier\u003cbr\u003e 25. Bottling Party\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e Bibliographic Essay\u003cbr\u003e Index\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\u003c\/font\u003e","brand":"Potomac Books","offers":[{"title":"Brand New","offer_id":52735314002200,"sku":"9781640126312","price":24.75,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"url":"https:\/\/freshlyprintedbooks.co.uk\/products\/crush-my-year-as-an-apprentice-winemaker-hardback-9781640126312","provider":"Freshly Printed Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}