In the vineyards, the vines and the people move with nature, responding to the sun and its seasonal rhythms of life. Movements are synchronized and dependent on one another. In my mind, the cycle begins in Winter, a time for rest and rejuvenation. The landscape has faded into a monochromatic palette of gray and beige, as if even the colors of life are sleeping. 

When it seems the quiet will never end, the hibernation of Winter gives way to the electric glow of Spring. It is like a spark that wakes up everything. The people put on sunglasses and get to work. The vines begin pushing sap into their veins with an energetic frenzy. Neither the people nor the vines have the will to resist the telluric impulses. Amidst the vines, the air is filled with new life, and a new vintage begins. 

Summer takes hold with the warmth of the sun. The vines are pushing all their energy into their fruit. Finally the sugars reach perfection and the time comes to harvest the grapes. The journey into wine commences and the humans retreat to the cellar. The vines are left to follow their own destiny. 

Temperatures cool, the lush green of summer evolves into a brilliant spectacle of color and the vines have the opportunity to tell the world who they are. In Autumn the vines pull their energy to their core and their leaves change colors according to their varietal nature. Some become more red, others more orange or golden. And then they fall, leaving the vines naked, revealing their life’s story in all the scars of prunings past. 

Winter has returned. The people lumber into the vineyards slowly. There is no rush. This is the moment when they get to connect with the vines, remember the past and look to the future with every clip of the pruning sheers. Essence to essence, human and nature are one, perfectly synchronized in life.

—Adapted from Ethos Priorat, a book by Elizabeth Hecker