"Seasons" by Taylor Collins: a song for Tablas Creek Vineyard

By Austin Collins

It is incredibly difficult to put into words what the subject of this blog means to me. The place I have called home for most of my life and my very best friend in one piece! My dear wife Taylor has written and recorded a song for Tablas Creek called "Seasons". Over the years since we moved here, she often spoke of the "living presence" this property evokes, a controlled chaos of natural farming bordered by the wilds of our oak woodlands. I am honored to present this project to you all, and I hope you listen to the song as you look at these photos that have become embedded in our minds of this beautiful place that we are lucky enough to call home.

Below, Taylor has provided a short account of the process of writing "Seasons":

Play Seasons by Taylor Collins

When I started writing the song, I had specific intentions for it. I wanted to convey the wild nature of the property and at the same time its feeling of comfort and home.

I tried a few things that made it feel too country and too constrained so I reworked it completely, but always had the lyrics about the cyclical pattern of the seasons and rejuvenation.

I felt it was important to continue the theme of regeneration, beginnings and endings, the way those things tie into the feelings we develop for a place. A place can feel like a family member, or an old friend.

Because of the way Tablas Creek is farmed and cared for, it retains its soul. It is not just a place of production and that has everything to do with how alive nature is here. I applied that cyclical theme to the chord structure as well and it both simplified the song and made it feel more free.

I loved writing a song about this place because it means so much to live here, and to raise children here where my husband grew up and now works. It feels like a complete circle that continues to turn, just like the soil and the life that lives through it and on it here at Tablas Creek.