Here is a sample of the documentary videos, shot by the research team during the cultural project „Travelers in Wineland”. Several interviews and customs were recorded in such villages as: Axente Sever, Chesler, Romanești, Curciu and Moșna.

Viniculture was a must for the people living in Târnave Valley. It took almost one whole year of labor, hope, proper weather and support from the community to work the land, harvest the crops and make wine. Both men and women did the work in the vineyard from early February to November. October was usually the time of harvesting, a great celebration which included also children, youngsters and elder people, which combined work with songs and joyful traditional utters and even parties at the end of harvesting.

Several noble wine varieties were produces in the area, such as: Fetească Albă, Fetească Regală, Neuburger, Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay, Muscat Ottonel.

In almost every village one can notice at least one house with the symbols of gape and grapevine. This particular predilection of adornment stands proof of the importance of viticulture in the everyday life of the peasants living in this area. The diversity of representations is quite impressive: grapevine shoot on the front-gabled houses, grapes or simple leaves between the windows, the ancestral symbol of the tree of life covered in grapes and grapevine leaves etc.

The importance of the craft and science of growing grapes and making wine was also recognized on a higher level, that of the entire community, through the usage of the grape and grapevine symbols, together with other icons, on the coats of arms of various human settlements, such as: Mediaș, Axente Sever, Micăsasa, Valea Viilor, Dumbrăveni, Ațel, Biertan, Copșa Mică.

There is hardly any custom or village event in which people living in Târnave Valley don’t make use of wine. Thus the wine symbolizes a warm welcome to guests, a chance for people to meet and interact, the seal of a deal, a thanking.

All major events in man’s life are marked by the presence of wine, from baptize, to wedding, to funeral. Apart from the religious role of wine, there is also an important folkloric side of it. The most spectacular is the role of wine in the wedding ceremony, from the engagement, to the announcement of the joyful event, to the procession and the party itself. There is a rich wedding literary folklore which talks about wine and a nice saying, that goes like this: a wedding with enough wine is omen for a long happy marriage (Richiș). The traditional wine flask – a symbol of the wedding- is present in all the important moments of this ceremony, and the glass of wine from which the grooms drink is sign of the joy of the moment and of their future destiny.

Worth to mention is also the Crown custom, of the Saxon community, still performed in Axente Sever, which involves the skill of a young man to climb a beautifully adorned pole and pick the wine flask from its top.

The Holy Bible mentions the grape and the grapevine more than 500 times. In the Orthodox ritual, wine is used in the Eucharist and forms, together with wafer, the blood and body of Jesus Christ. The wine is used in the Resurrection Easter Ceremonial, in the wedding ceremony, at funerals and for newly baptized infant.

The Orthodox Romanians and the Evangelical Saxons living in Târnave Valley have cherished the symbols of grape and grapevine by bringing them inside the church, as an omen to God’s Word and the winemaking profile of the area.

Thus, one can find the grape and the grapevine in the Orthodox churches from Șeica Mică and Curciu, in Moșna and Romanești, in the mural paintings, iconostasis, holy doors, and religious furniture. On the other side, the Saxons placed these symbols inside their churches on the organ, on the shrine, to symbolize the wealth in Valea Viilor and Hoghilag and also on the wooden door in the fortified church from Biertan.

The winemaking profile of Târnave Valley also influenced the traditional costume of both Romanians and Saxons.

The skilful Romanian women from Boian sewed their blouses with grapes, grapevine leaves and roses patterns in black and golden thread, or even in realistic manner in yellow, brown and purple thread, in the case of men’ shirts.

The symbols on women vests and aprons from Curciu, on men shirts and belts from Axente Sever, Boian and Bazna, are proof of people’s cherish of viticulture and the fertile soil in the area.

Similarly, the Saxon costume of both women and men is adorned with embroidery representing the grape and the grapevine on items as: blouses, scarves, aprons, men’s shirts.

Women living in Târnave Valley area put a lot of skill and carefulness in handcraft, too, in adorning the rooms of their houses. In long, winter days, at candlelight or gaslight, they would sew or embroider the symbol of the grapevine on household objects, such as: bed spread, wall quilt, traditional towels, pillow cases. One can notice a wide range of compositional variants, which progress from simple to complex ones: the white and black stickwork on Saxon pilowcase in Axente Sever, the blue, green and brown grapes and vine leaf, embroidered on Romanian pillowcase in Curciu.

Astonishing are also the bed spreads in Romaneşti, wowen with grapes and flowers pattern, the grapeshaped lace at the hem of the blankets in Chesler, the traditional towels, adorning the Orthodox icons, in Moşna and Axente Sever.

Târnave Valley is renown in Romanian folkloristics as one of the first researched ethnographic areas. Ilarion Cocişiu recorded the impressive number of 9.000 songs, proof of the old times rich and diverse folklore.

The 2016 field research sadly showed the dissolution of folklore in the Sibiu area of Târnave Valley, especially in those genres connected to aspects of life no longer valid: winter social gatherings, outlawry, folk street songs and army songs etc.

The mission to identify and write down the oral literature which refers to grapevine, grapes and wine was not at all easy, however, the research team managed to gather a compilation of songs and utters about harvesting, love and wedding, Sunday dancing gatherings and caroling.