October 29, 2024 – The Mad Crush Tells the Unlikely True Story of a Century-Old California Vineyard and the Quest to Make One Great Wine October 29, 2024: Central Coast, California—Hailed as “the best wine book
you’ve never read,” The Mad Crush is making a splash return this fall with the release of a new expanded second edition featuring 30 pages of added storytelling and a new afterword by author Sean Weir.
The Mad Crush became a cult favorite in 2015 for its unvarnished look at the winemaking process, all while telling the unlikely true story of a century-old vineyard on California’s Central Coast. The second edition now lands with added content as well as a new cover and subtitle: An Obscure California Vineyard and the Quest to Make One Great Wine. It is now available on Amazon in both print ($14.99) and Kindle e-book ($11.99) formats, and may be purchased on Amazon via TheMadCrush.com.
“The Mad Crush is more than a book about winemaking,” Weir said. “It’s an indomitable tale of mentorship, natural history and the countercultural heritage of California. This new edition weaves in additional details, remembrances and anecdotes that make for an even richer reading experience.”
The book’s synopsis reads as follows: In the summer of 1974, a young man named Bill Greenough found his way to a remote California canyon where a century-old Zinfandel vineyard had been lost to history. Toiling alone with nothing more than a pick and shovel, Greenough embarked on an audacious dream: to bring the abandoned vines back to life and start his own fledgling winery. He devoted the next 20 years to this herculean task, trading a monied Montecito upbringing for the life of a rural iconoclast. And in the fall of 1995, it all culminated in an unforgettable grape harvest, when an unlikely cast of characters joined Greenough for a season of folly, adversity and self-discovery. The Mad Crush is the true story of that headstrong vintage—and of a decades-long quest to make one great wine.
Making Wine the Hard Way
The Mad Crush weaves multiple narrative threads into an action-packed true story that reveals the raw beauty of making wine the hard way, from ground to glass.
The story takes place in the upper Arroyo Grande Valley at Saucelito Canyon Vineyard, which was planted in 1880 and restored by Bill Greenough in 1974. When Weir worked the 1995 harvest season at Saucelito Canyon, he unwittingly walked into this larger story that was a century in the making. The events of that improbable harvest season would ultimately shape his own life’s trajectory.
Along the way, his mentor Greenough would regale him with tales about the vineyard’s curious history from the late 19th century through Prohibition, as well as Greenough’s own upper-crust childhood in Montecito and his hippie-era winemaking adventures in Santa Barbara’s bohemian Mountain Drive community.
The Mad Crush documents these remembrances while providing a blow-by-blow window into how wine is made, by way of the fateful 1995 crush at Saucelito Canyon.
“This fall marks the 50th anniversary year since Bill restored the abandoned vineyard, making this the perfect moment to breathe new life into the story,” Weir said. “It speaks to a time in California when winemaking was more tactile and analog, which is something people increasingly seem to appreciate.”
The Mad Crush: An Obscure California Vineyard and the Quest to Make One Great Wine is available on Amazon.com in print and Kindle formats. Praised for being “Part Thoreau, part Bourdain,” The Mad Crush is an indomitable tale of winemaking, mentorship, natural history and the countercultural heritage of California. The expanded second edition was published in October of 2024—exactly 50 years after the century-old vineyard was restored at Saucelito Canyon. See TheMadCrush.com.
