Field Notes

Visual essays

Projects

Long-running bodies of work, shaped and reshaped over time.

Pruning and clearing old vines is one of the many processes of winemaking. Here we can see my uncle working on our family's vine in the northwest of Portugal, a region known for it's fresh, light and fruity wine, Vinho Verde (young wine). 🇵🇹 Monção Before fertilizing, we need to clear away the dried winter weeds from the base of each vine. It may seem like a simple task, but repeating it across hundreds of vines wears on the body. That’s why most of the vineyard work is spread out through the week and weekends, done slowly after regular work hours. This is how the vineyard wakes up for spring. 🇵🇹 Monção Good harvest means picking carefully. Harvesters check every cluster, removing grapes that are damaged, diseased, or not ready. Since the cooperative will reject a whole 500kg bin over some bad grapes, this detailed selection is essential for vindima to succeed. 🇵🇹 Monção Traditional roles still define vindima. Men handle the bins, distributing empties throughout the rows and collecting the full ones, which can weigh up to 50kg. Women and younger workers stay in the vines, doing the careful work of selecting and picking grapes. Each role depends on the other to keep the harvest moving efficiently. 🇵🇹 Monção

The Vineyard in Lara

A year of work in our family vineyard in Lara, Monção—from winter pruning and spring growth to the communal vindima.

Revised October 2, 2025 ↗