Heralding rebirth and the soil’s fertility, the grape harvest is the first step in the production of wine, ‘sun’s child born of the grape’.

It’s the height of the grape harvesting season and there’s a flurry of excitement in Turkey’s grape-growing regions. The mature fruit has been plucked from the vines and loaded onto carts. Along the roads, small trucks and tractors transport heaps of grapes, while simple donkeys and horses bear them in panniers on their backs. The villagers who harvested the fruit are taking it to the nearest processing place. They have to act fast before the grapes spoil and become useless. The journey of the grapes begins right after the vintage. At some factories they are emptied into narrow gauge railroad cars and taken to scales to be weighed; at others they arrive by the truckload and are placed directly into the mill. The factories work at a furious pace while the villagers enjoy the pleasant weariness of another harvest completed.