Trebinje Wine - Grape Harvest
21 images Created 9 Sep 2024
One late fall afternoon I spent a couple of days photographing the grape pickers in the vineyards around Trebinje.
The days are long and hard, and the work is all done by hand.
Initially most if not all were more than a little skeptical, dismissive even, of my presence. Several even grumbled and sneered to my interpreter that it was easy for me to smile because I didn't have to work like they did. And that I had no idea what it was like for them.
As she relayed this to me I had her explain that in fact I actually grew up growing and picking borovnica (blueberries) and spent most of my summers doing a similar sort of hard field work. She explained that it was this very understanding of how hard the work was that I asked the vineyard owner if “I could come and see the people who did the hard work in the field” and not just stay at the winery with the winemakers. As word of this whispered its way up and down the rows, tensions thawed, the rhythm of smoke, pick, sort, pack, smoke, complain, tease, smoke, repeat resumes and I was essentially forgotten.
Each worker had their own set of clippers and buckets. Some wore gloves others not. Some brought carts or a wheelbarrow to carry buckets or crates. Wages are paid on the number of crates packed not on hours worked.
The days are long and hard, and the work is all done by hand.
Initially most if not all were more than a little skeptical, dismissive even, of my presence. Several even grumbled and sneered to my interpreter that it was easy for me to smile because I didn't have to work like they did. And that I had no idea what it was like for them.
As she relayed this to me I had her explain that in fact I actually grew up growing and picking borovnica (blueberries) and spent most of my summers doing a similar sort of hard field work. She explained that it was this very understanding of how hard the work was that I asked the vineyard owner if “I could come and see the people who did the hard work in the field” and not just stay at the winery with the winemakers. As word of this whispered its way up and down the rows, tensions thawed, the rhythm of smoke, pick, sort, pack, smoke, complain, tease, smoke, repeat resumes and I was essentially forgotten.
Each worker had their own set of clippers and buckets. Some wore gloves others not. Some brought carts or a wheelbarrow to carry buckets or crates. Wages are paid on the number of crates packed not on hours worked.