Wine Liberated

“This book gets at something I think about constantly—that wine is agriculture, culture, and place before it’s ever a commodity with a score. It’s a refreshing, clear-eyed read that made me think differently about wine, even after a lifetime in it. A revolutionary point of view, and something we all need to read these days.”—Rajat Parr, James Beard Award–winning sommelier; winemaker, Phelan Farm

“Our imagination and thinking guides our actions, which create the farms and the wines that we see in the world. In Wine Liberated, Adam Huss casts a spell of ecological beauty that will cause the reader (and wine drinker!) to yearn for what we can create. A sensory treat!”—Mark Shepard, founder, New Forest Farm; author of Restoration Agriculture

“A provocative and inspiring look at wine beyond convention. Adam Huss challenges us to rethink the relationship between fermentation, ecology, and place, opening the door to a richer and more diverse vision of what wine can become.”—Pascal Baudar, fermentation educator; author of The Wildcrafting Brewer

“Wine has always been more than a libation; it is an expression of place, culture, and our relationship with the living world. In Wine Liberated, Adam Huss invites us to reconsider not only what wine is, but what it might become when we embrace diversity, ecological resilience, and imagination. This is an expansive, hopeful, and deeply engaging exploration of wine’s evolving culture—one that reminds us that the most meaningful revolutions begin by changing the questions we ask.”—Deirdre Heekin, winemaker, Domaine La Garagista

“Even as vineyards are being ripped out across California and France, the hybrid grapes once dismissed by much of the wine world are quietly finding new life. Huss is writing into that contradiction. What stays with me from this book isn’t any single argument, but the people behind it. The growers, farmers, and winemakers in these pages talk about wine the way farmers talk about land, not the way wine is often discussed from a distance. This is a book built from listening rather than advocacy, and it asks timely questions about the future of wine without pretending to have simple answers.”—Matt Niess, owner and winemaker, North American Press

“This extraordinary book turns every aspect of the modern wine world on its head. Adam L. Huss exposes centuries of prejudice, narrow-mindedness and self-interest that shaped the way we think about wine today. But this is not a crazed polemic. It overflows with positivity and solutions. Huss seeks out the iconoclasts and free thinkers who are moving the conversation forward. He draws on decades of his own experience as both practitioner and observer, painting a fresh new vision of what wine could and should be. That he achieves all this in such a clear-headed, rational manner is truly impressive.”—Simon J. Woolf, wine writer, The Morning Claret; author of Amber Revolution

“Wine Liberated is for anyone who drinks wine, but more important, for those who know change is needed today. For those willing to question their own beliefs and embrace new ideas, or perhaps revisit old ones, this book could help us herald a new, more sustainable wine future.
Thank you, Adam, for this much-needed book of questions, ideas, and knowledge.”—Ryan Opaz, coauthor of Foot-Trodden; cofounder, Patamar Select

”Wine Liberated offers both a diagnosis and a vision of repair—one rooted in a more attentive relationship with all life.”—Kelly Mulville, Paicines Ranch

Adam Huss started learning and blogging about wine in 2004. He began making wine in 2007 and growing grapes in 2012. Along the way, he took introductory level tests with The Wine & Spirits Education Trust (WSET) and the Court of Master Sommeliers, but he found something missing in these widely revered institutions of formal wine training and didn’t pursue education with either. He chose instead to take the practical approach by working in and with wine and vines.

Starting in 2012, Adam converted his Los Angeles yard into a permaculture-inspired wine-producing perennial polyculture, named Crenshaw Cru Winegarden. In 2019, Adam started Centralas, a commercial licensed winery headquartered in South Los Angeles. When he started Centralas, Adam also began recording and publishing the Organic Wine Podcast, which he later renamed the Beyond Organic Wine Podcast. He has interviewed over 180 wine professionals, scientists, authors, and wine farmers and producers from around the world.

Recently, Adam and his wife moved from California to the Finger Lakes region of New York State, where he plans to develop an experimentation site for married vines, which are co-planted perennial polycultures made of vines growing on living trees supported by an understory of other beneficial plants.

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