The Crew

working in the winery

We gather every year

bicycle in the winery
kosta browne t shirts
kosta browne employee handbook

for a harvest that always begins with smiles

tasting a fresh batch of wine

days start early...

tractors in the field
workers at night
worker in the vineyard at night
workers harvesting grapes at night

and often

vineyards underneath the flood lights
worker carrying a box of grapes
dumping grapes
checking the grape ripeness

day and night, vineyard and winery blur together

forklifts working the warehouse
working underneath the flood lights
looking at the chart
wine regions
dawn in the vineyard

it feels like the fastest marathon

pushing crates of grapes
spinning a barrel of wine
worker in the winery
cleaning the winery

running every day with the same team

checking the grapes
the process
the crush
the science behind the wine

strange things start to happen

making wine
crushing grapes the old way
interesting ways to work

while working toward those small but vital moments...

worker giving direction

where quality sings

making the wine
making the wine
checking the quality of the grapes
sampling the wine

encouraging the personality of each lot, each vineyard to shine

evening light on the vineyard
vineyards at harvest
vineyards with fire in the distance

together as a team of people sharing a healthy obsession

empty grape boxes
charting the production
checking the grapes in the boxes

to make a little magic happen each year

the finished kosta browne wine in a bottle

Troyce Hoffman is a northern Californian based photographer specializing in documentary based work. He was embedded with us during much of harvest 2016 for this story. In 2015 he helped us create The Rite of Interns. You can find Troyce and more of his work at troycehoffman.com