In some ways naming and branding the winery was almost a more difficult endeavor than making our first wines! But during our prolonged explorations and discussions on this topic, we found a Latin phrase: “Respice, Adspice, Prospice.” Translation: “Learn from the past; live in the present; look to the future.”
The Prospice name, and this exhortation to “look to the future,” reflects both our belief in the inherently optimistic and forward-looking nature of wine and winemaking and our respect for their deeply rooted traditions. The clean, modern lines of the Prospice name in our logo sit in counterpoint to the lower rendering of the same name in ancient Etruscan characters (read retrograde, from right to left), signifying this dichotomy of future and past.
Winemaking is full of moments of anticipation and expectation. A grower who has found the perfect new vineyard site can close her eyes and see the rows of trellised vines that will eventually span the landscape. Every year as spring arrives, grower and winemaker alike begin to roam the vineyard, carefully tracking the progress of budbreak, bloom, fruit set, veraison, ripening — always imagining the harvest ahead. As freshly-harvested fruit reaches the winery, the winemaker tastes and begins to envision the future of this incipient wine. At every stage of fermentation and aging, and as the wine goes into bottle, the winemaker recites an insistent and repeated mantra — “I can’t wait to see what this wine becomes…” — whether in a year, two years, or twenty.
In counterpoint to this future-oriented vision, winemaking is also imbued with an unshakeable reverence for the ancient origins of the craft. The overwhelming majority of fine wine in modern times will spend at least some time in an oak barrel that would be entirely recognizable to a winemaker in Roman times. Other ancient materials and techniques (such as concrete fermenters and clay amphorae) are experiencing a resurgence in modern wineries. Where the geology supports it, many wineries still age wines in caves hewn from solid rock. Despite alternatives that are arguably superior, many winemakers and consumers alike still cling stubbornly to the use of cork to seal wine bottles.
Prospice — the name and the winery — is a celebration of the past, of all the years of experience that have brought the winemaking craft to where it is today, and a means to carry that craft into an exciting future. We hope you will join us for the adventure.
