Crushed

Take a tour of wine and spirit production around the world and how climate change is affecting it at every stage – from cultivation to consumption.

Climate change is altering the very nature of wine and spirit production around the world. From the unimaginably destructive fires that rip through California’s wine country with terrifying frequency to the floods and hail storms that threaten grape and grain harvests from Bordeaux to Kentucky and beyond, no one involved in the world of beverage production is immune. Thankfully, it’s not all doom and gloom: The rising temperatures brought on by climate change have allowed southern English wine producers to gain a foothold in the world of sparkling wine: Their best bubblies are finally gaining the kind of respect that producers have dreamed about for decades. CRUSHED takes readers on a tour of the world of wines and spirits, and tells the stories of the visionary growers and producers in eight key regions that are being affected by a climate whose shifts have been far more sudden and dramatic than they ever could have predicted.

CRUSHED is written for everyone who enjoys a nice glass of wine or a great dram of whiskey, and who has ever wondered how it got from its literal roots to the glass they’re holding in their hand. It’s for anyone who is interested in the ways in which our dramatically shifting natural environment is affecting the beverages we’ve all taken for granted.

Over the course of eight gripping chapters, each one focusing on a different part of the wine and spirits world, readers are taken into the lives of the people responsible for some of the most delicious drinks in the world in fascinating, revealing, and riveting ways. Plenty of books have been written about the effects of climate change on our food system, yet none has so vividly given readers the opportunity to understand how their beloved wines and spirits are being affected. Until now.

Brian Freedman is a wine, spirits, travel, and food writer, restaurant and beverage consultant, wine and spirits educator, and event host and speaker. He regularly contributes to Food & Wine digital, Forbes.com, and SevenFifty Daily, has contributed to Travel + Leisure online, Departures online, Whisky Advocate Magazine, Wine Enthusiast, The Bourbon Review, and more. He also hosted wine and spirit pairing segments on the CNN Airport Network. In 2019, Brian was awarded a fellowship to attend The Symposium for Professional Wine Writers in Napa Valley. He consults for restaurants on their beverage programs, regularly hosts virtual and in-person wine and spirits tastings for corporate and private clients, and has traveled to more than 50 countries and territories around the world, and extensively throughout the United States, to experience the food, drink, and culture for his work. He lives outside of Philadelphia with his wife Steffi, daughters Sophie and Olivia, and dog Murray.

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