{"product_id":"9780985157944","title":"The Mad Crush: A Memoir of Mythic Vines and Improbable Winemaking","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003e\"The first time Bill made wine, he was buck naked...\"\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eSo begins \u003ci\u003eThe Mad Crush\u003c\/i\u003e, the improbable but true story about the making of one great wine and the souls who paved its way over a period of 115 years-including nude grape stompers, a freethinking village potter, a California surfing legend, a reclusive winemaker, the winemaker's ex-wife's one-legged boyfriend, and a mysterious dead coyote.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe Mad Crush\u003c\/i\u003e starts when Bill Greenough, owner of Saucelito Canyon Vineyard in the wildlands of California's Central Coast, recruits author Christopher Weir to work the 1995 \"crush\"-the seasonal push to process the harvested grapes. What ensues is a life-changing harvest season like no other, during which a motley winery crew is challenged to make fine wine the hard way in the face of folly, adversity and even fire.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eBut while \u003ci\u003eThe Mad Crush\u003c\/i\u003e revolves around the eyebrow-raising escapades of the 1995 crush, it ultimately tells the larger tale of a century-old Zinfandel vineyard and the adventuresome characters who have dared to call it home. Along the way, Weir unearths a trove of serendipitous stories, all of them somehow pointing the way to this remote place that cuts an unlikely path through the history of California wine.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eFrom the planting of the vines in 1880 by an itinerant Englishman to Greenough's 1960s winemaking escapades in Santa Barbara's bohemian Mountain Drive community, \u003ci\u003eThe Mad Crush\u003c\/i\u003e is not just an exploration of wine, but also a question of destiny.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e\"As a lover of California wines, I consider \u003ci\u003eThe Mad Crush\u003c\/i\u003e a must-have...It's an in-depth and intriguing adventure into the heart and history of California wine.\"\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e \u003ci\u003e-Don Dokken, heavy metal legend and wine connoisseur\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Mooncatcher Media","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":49972133986544,"sku":"9780985157944","price":11.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/9780985157944","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}