On Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day, I can’t help but think of the quote by Dr. King in the final year of his life, when he stood with striking sanitation workers and reminded us that “all labor has dignity.” 

For me, that statement shows up on the production pad, in the vineyards and orchards, and in the everyday interactions that shape how we show up for the people we rely on.

I work as the assistant winemaker at Sauvage Spectrum, and I have deep respect for the way our co-founder and head grower, Kaibab Sauvage, shows up for the people who work alongside us season after season. What I have learned here is simple and enduring. Agriculture only works when relationships work.

At Sauvage Spectrum and through our work with Colorado Vineyard Specialist, Kaibab’s fruit company, the H2A worker program is approached with intention and respect. It’s not a checkbox or a labor shortcut, but rather a long-term relationship with real people. These are individuals and families who return year after year, who understand the vines, the timing, and the rhythms of agricultural labor in ways that cannot be rushed or replaced.

Adrian is part of that year-round reality. He is from the Yucatán, and his family comes up every season with a steadiness that modern food systems quietly depend on. That consistency becomes knowledge over time, built through repetition, observation, and care.

What I appreciate most is the atmosphere Adrian and our crew create. There is an ease that comes from mutual respect rather than hierarchy, and a steadiness that makes long, physical days feel shared instead of heavy. Whether they are packing and sorting fruit on the production pad or moving swiftly through vineyard and orchard rows with an efficiency that feels almost instinctive, completed with quiet confidence.

Often, music plays as the crews work, rhythms carrying across the vineyard and down the rows, making demanding, repetitive tasks feel lighter without ever slowing the pace. It is not guesswork. It is experience, repetition, and care built over the years. It is work that leaves its mark, calloused hands, sore backs, and a level of skill that is easy to miss unless you choose to pay attention. 

We have these relationships because of the H2A program. The H2A program is vital to agriculture, yet it requires a great deal from participants, often tying legal status to a single employer and requiring long-term planning and trust. Right now, H2A workers’ immigration status is under scrutiny despite being here lawfully and keeping our farms, orchards, vineyards, and ranches running.

As a community that relies on people’s labor each season, we take pride in ensuring their safety, security, and access to resources that support the people who do the work. 

Here in Palisade, organizations like La Plaza support immigrant farmworkers and their families through childcare, language programs, GED pathways, resource navigation, and workers’ rights. Their work reflects a truth that Dr. King deeply understood. Agriculture is not just an economic system, but a human one, and dignity requires consistent support.

This is something that growers in this valley have known for a long time. The late Henry Talbott said, “Without these workers, we would not have a peach harvest in Colorado. Period.” 

He also acknowledged that the crews who return year after year often end up knowing the orchards better than he did, because they are the ones in the rows every day, noticing changes and making thousands of small decisions long before fruit ever reaches a box.

At Sauvage, that is Melchor, Adiel, Tomas, Eyker, Carlos, Joaquin, Freddy, Jose, Jorge, and Isaias, who return each year with the skill and care that sustain our vineyard.

Sauvage Spectrum would not exist as a Colorado estate winery without them. Bottles labeled Colorado-grown do not just represent land and climate. They represent people, people whose labor, skill, and consistency make that label honest. Their work is not incidental to the product. It is foundational. 

In the vineyard, the statement that “all labor has dignity” is not abstract. It is visible every day in the care, skill, and pride each of us brings to the work.

After leaving art school in search of direction, Hannah fell in love with organic farming in Pennsylvania. That path led to a vineyard job where she was trained in the cellar—and from there, winemaking became both a passion and a calling. The mix of art, science, and history captured her heart, eventually leading her to Colorado and to Sauvage Spectrum!