(North Hollywood – CALIF.) — SOMM TV will release the new docuseries CRUSH on Friday, December 18. Hosted by New York-based sommelier Shakera Jones, the premiere episode of CRUSH takes viewers along on the discovery of wine from the grape harvest to the bottle in California’s Sonoma County during the autumn of 2020.
CRUSH is an original SOMM TV series and the first by the network created completely by a trio of women: written and directed by Christina Wise, produced by Diane Carpenter who is also a co-founder of Forgotten Man Films and hosted by sommelier Shakera Jones. Each brings vast experience from multiple perspectives of the worlds of wine, food and visual storytelling.
The first episode features Jones harvesting grapes with Flambeaux Wine vintner Art Murray and family, as well as Flambeaux Winemaker Ryan Prichard, in the Dry Creek Valley near Healdsburg, California. She then joins the Murrays at the Grand Cru Custom Crush winemaking facility as their grapes are brought in from the vineyard.
“It has been a pleasure working with truly inspirational women putting together the unknown story on how a substantial portion of wine production is produced in a private, custom crush facility where several different winemakers make wine,” said Carpenter, “People often do not realize that small wineries may not have the resources to build elaborate estate wine production facilities. This documentary tells their story through the lens of the Murray family of Flambeaux Wine.”
“Shakera is a natural talent on camera and we had a wonderful time working with the Murray family. Everyone was so inspiring up in Sonoma, and especially resilient as they pushed through the grape harvest and production during and after the 2020 fires,” said Wise referencing the widespread wildfires that continuously challenge California’s wine regions.
Jones shares her journey, and everything that she learns about the winemaking process along the way, meeting up with Grand Cru’s owner Robert Morris, and another winemaker Justin Seidenfeld of Ross Knoll Vineyard, tasting wines in barrel and witnessing the action while several wineries are making wine at the site. A short, 30-second trailer that provides a peek into the first episode is available at SommTV.com/crush.
Christina Wise is part of the team that created and produced the SOMM documentary series along with filmmaker Jason Wise and cinematographer Jackson Myers, with Carpenter joining the series as executive producer of the second and third SOMM films.
SOMM TV is an independently-owned network of films, programs and podcasts related to wine, food and travel and has no relation to any sommelier group or wine organization.
SOMM TV is the first SVOD (Subscription Video on Demand) streaming platform and full podcast network in the wine, food, and travel space offering exclusive new shows, films, and educational content created from the ground up by the team that made the award-winning SOMM documentary series.
For viewers, SOMM TV is available on every device and smart TV worldwide through a custom app and website, and the free podcasts can be found on all major platforms including iTunes and Spotify. SOMM TV is widely accessible and affordable at just $49.99 for a full year.
