📚🍷 Episode 19 — Adam McHugh | Blood From a Stone → From Hospice to Wine in the Santa Ynez Valley 🌄❤️
Chopping It Up with Keith Saarloos · Released September 27, 2025 · Santa Ynez Valley, California
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About this conversation
In this one, we sit down with author (and valley neighbor) Adam McHugh, whose memoir Blood From a Stone is a love letter to the Santa Ynez Valley and a raw, honest look at going from hospice chaplain and grief counselor in L.A. to wine guide and storyteller among our vines. We cover: how grief can become gratitude, why this valley saves souls with big skies and bigger terroir, the punk-rock work behind “romantic” wine, and what it really takes to belong to a place you once only visited. It’s reflective, hopeful, a little history-dorky, and very local.
Listen if you’re into: real talk about loss + resilience, the geology and magic that make SB County wines special, and the winding road from “escape” to “home.”
Grab the book: Blood From a Stone (find it at The Book Loft in Solvang or your favorite indie).
Bonus: Adam teases his upcoming Solvang kids’ book—because this valley makes room for both hard truths and holiday wonder.
Press play, take a deep breath, and fall back in love with where we live. 🎧✨
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Saarloos + Sons archive vineyard scene. Context photograph; not a portrait of the guest or a photograph of this recording.
