Come on, is this a trick question? They all keep the wine in the bottle! Oh okay, I'll be serious. What we're calling natural cork comes from the bark of a type of oak tree that grows primarily in Portugal and Spain. It has been used quite effectively as a bottle stopper for many centuries. The problem with natural cork is the potential to taint the wine with trichloroanisole (TCA), a mold that, at its worst, causes the wine to take on an offensive, musty, wet cardboard smell and taste. That's what you may have heard referred to as 'corked' wine. Cork manufacturers go to great lengths to insure that their corks don't have TCA, but still anywhere from 2% to possibly as high as 20% are tainted.

Synthetic corks are plastic based products developed in direct response to the problem of 'corked' wines. Some are formed from a single material, while others are like sausages with one type of plastic inside a sheath of a different plastic. Much research has gone into insuring that the plastic itself doesn't taint the wine, that this type of cork works in existing bottling machines, and is reliable. The jury is still out as to the long-term impact on aging wine, but that is somewhat moot seeing as 95%+ of wine is consumed within a year (if not days) of purchase.

Screw caps are just what you think they are and are finding favor in the wine industry because they are a neutral, inexpensive, long lasting closure. The downside of them is the cost of converting existing bottling equipment to use them, and their less than pleasing esthetics.

At Buttonwood we became tired of the amount of 'corked' wine we were experiencing, and the constantly rising cost of natural cork. When good quality corks hit $.40 we switched to 'Twin Tops', a natural cork product that is made of chips of cork glued together, with a solid piece of cork attached to each end. The solid pieces insure that no glue touches the wine. These cost $.11 each. But we still were getting 'corked' wine. We finally found a synthetic cork that we liked the look of (didn't look quite as fake) and switched to them in 2000. We're still a bit uncomfortable using them because of their look and the ageing issue.

As a final note, dissuade yourself from the idea that natural cork lets the wine 'breathe' and that this is important for the aging of wine. Yeah, it ages it, but prematurely if it breathes too much. And the answer to the question no one asked: The capsule we finish the top of the bottle with was originally made of lead and was put on to stop mice from gnawing through the cork in those dank, musty cellars of old. Today they are nothing more than beauty marks.

Resurrecting October

Last year there was no October. That's right. In 2000 we went directly from September into November. Oh sure, there were those cold days numbered from 1 to 31 which had the prefix October, but they didn't account for much if you're a farmer. And by the way, we consider ourselves farmers here at Buttonwood Farm.

    We have 1 Fuyu persimmon tree, 1walnut tree, 10 plum trees, 33 olive trees, 50 pear trees (Asian, Bartlett, and D'Anjou), 72 pomegranate bushes, 87 almond trees, 122 peach trees (Elberta, Red Havens, and Whites), a small field of assorted herbs, a bunch of blackberry and raspberry bushes, a seasonal kitchen garden (tomatoes, tomatillos, peppers, beans, squash, etc.) and 33,000 grapevines.

     Most of the things we grow didn't care about the lack of October. They were already on vacation. Not so the grapes. They struggled, they hibernated, they stood stock-still and did almost nothing for weeks because of the lack of heat and light. We finished the harvest of 2000 well into November, feeling fortunate that most of the fruit came into the winery with good flavor and color. But it wasn't fun and it surely wasn't pretty.

    In 2001 our old friend October returned. Accompanying October were the wonderful blasts of heat which make all the difference in how our grapes ripen. We greeted this quintessential month of harvest back onto the calendar with perspiration on the brow and warm sighs of relief. Never again will we take October, or any month for that matter, for granted.

Blessings - Fall, 2000

     Unbelievably it's fall again - this year disappearing faster than any before. With fall comes harvest, and after that, a time to count our many blessings. We are so fortunate to be the stewards of Buttonwood Farm. We are blessed with a group of exceptionally talented and kind people who daily come to work here. We're also just dammed lucky that we make fine wines that we can go home and sip every evening. It sure beats growing rutabagas!

     Another element of the blessing of Buttonwood is the people who walk through our front door. (That's you, by the way.) We've met so many interesting and enjoyable people over the years. Some of you have tasted our wines from the very beginning with the 1989 vintage. Many more of you have found us since we opened the tasting room in 1992. No matter when Buttonwood entered your life, you've experienced the changes we've made over the years, and also been the reason for many of those changes.

     In the spring '96 issue of The Wooden Button we talked about all the changes that had occurred in the vineyard. Those adjustments (and subsequent ones) were precipitated in great measure by our personal desires, as well as observing what wines you were interested in from other wineries. So there have been shifts in direction over the years, like moving away from just Bordeaux based wines such as merlot and sauvignon blanc, and into Rhones like marsanne and syrah.

     As we've changed what we make and how we make it, most of you have been supportive and pleased. You keep coming back. New people arrive and join our Imbibers Club. More of our wines fly out the door now, instead of strolling out as in some past years. This is all good, and makes us happy!

     But we don't want to lose track of things we did well in the past, and have somehow forgotten. It might be a wine we used to make, or a greeting that is missing today. Let us know.

     Tell us about your last visit to our tasting room and what you liked or didn't. Remind us of something we used to do that you enjoyed. Where have you seen our wines, and where would you like to see them? Comment on our web site. What else could we include in it? Help us evolve and survive in this crowded world of wine and information.

     Think about it. Is there something you'd like to say to us? You can call, mail, fax or e-mail your thoughts. And do it often - this isn't a one time request. We hope it is a long-term relationship, and your contributions are essential (Requested? Demanded? Controversial?).
     While we wait to hear from you, we'll sit here at Buttonwood, sipping our wine and counting our blessings. We'll heave great sighs of relief that harvest is over, and prepare for winter. During the long winter nights we'll hatch new ideas and dream outrageous dreams. We know we have to keep on our toes if we're going to keep you interested.

Harvest - it's upon us - October, 2000.

     It's odd to think that everything I do during the year is really just a holding-action in anticipation of harvest. Harvest is such a pregnant word - full of potential and mixed meanings. In its exalted state it is lush, bountiful and fulfilling. A freeing from concern, worry and panic. And what a relief. Ha, ha, let it rain, let it storm, ha, ha, ha, I have harvested!!!!!

     On the other hand harvest can be dark - full of gloom. Harvest at its worst is lack, lose, failure, disaster, death. Ouch. Let's move on.

     So, what will it be this year? Is it gloom and doom or bells and whistles? (The envelope please.) IT'S BELLS AND WHISTLES!!! (Actually, after last year's grim harvest anything short of an invasion of locusts would be viewed as upbeat.)

     But truly, all drivel aside, it does look like an excellent year. The amount of fruit is perfect and the weather is cooperating with some good heat at the end of the season to bring everything to ripeness. Soon I'll be doing my ritual of walking around the perimeter of a just harvested field saying thank you to the plants - they've done it again - now they can rest. And me? Well, I think I'll start worrying about next year.

     Enjoy our wine, that's why we go through this harvest drama.

Home At Last! - June, 2000

     The first part of year 2000 has seen some of us from Buttonwood Farm Winery zigzagging around the country (and the world). Late winter and into spring are usually busy times for me (yes, it's Bret writing this) as that is a prime time for trade shows and distributor tastings. Weather usually is an issue, being downright abysmal in many parts of the country at that time. But this year I was fortunate enough to be on the East Coast and in the South a couple of times and had ideal conditions. Washington D.C. is a place that, because of the too cold or hot temperatures, I have usually stayed inside, tending to wine business or wandering in museums. This year it was cherry blossom time and the conditions for being outside and walking were ideal. Miles and miles of investigating a truly grand Capitol. And have you ever been in Louisiana when it wasn't hot and humid? The climate was as spectacular as the food!

     But my journeys pale in comparison to what Seyburn and her husband Marc and son Zach have been up to. On May 1st they completed a 3-month, around the world "semester at sea". This is a program for college students sponsored by the University of Pittsburgh. Seyburn and Marc where hired on as professors, and high school age Zach was a fortunate puppy to be able to travel with the 600 college age folk. Their journey began in early January, sailing from Florida with an early stop in Cuba. Over the next months they visited Brazil, South Africa, Kenya, India, Malaysia, Vietnam, Hong Kong, and Japan, (I'm sure I've forgotten some of their stops) ending the trip in Seattle. The postcards, faxes and letters we received were wonderful - full of amazing experiences and tales. It will be grand to have then back home. (Maybe we should do a winemaker dinner featuring their slides and stories, with dishes representing places they stopped?)

     Another traveler who has returned from a profound trip is winemaker Michael Brown. He spent the last couple weeks of April in Australia, the whole point of which was his marriage to Kathy DiCroce. I've written before about how happy we at Buttonwood are for Mike and Kathy, and we all look forward to celebrating with them later in May. Being the seekers of adventure they are, their late May European honeymoon will be full of extreme sport activities that make me tired just thinking about them. I hope they have a great time and come home in one piece. (Should we remind Mike about his just healed broken arm from snowboarding last January?)

     Another trip that should be mentioned was our dear Betty's couple of weeks in the wilds of Louisiana's bayou country. Betty grew up in Louisiana and still has family and business connections in the state. Traveling has become increasingly difficult for her, but the final destination at Indigo Island makes all the labor of getting there worthwhile. There was a steady stream of friends from Santa Barbara joining her at Indigo, and we made sure there was enough Buttonwood wine on hand so no one went dry. She always returns from these trips energized and full of new ideas.

     There's a lot more to talk about, but this is getting long and there are other things to look at while you're here at the Buttonwood site. Enjoy yourself!

Why? October, 1999

     Man-oh-man, why would anyone want to be a farmer?! I mean really, if you want predictability, farming isn't it. But wait, maybe it is the ultimate in predictability. Where else do you know for absolute certain that anything can and will happen when you least want it and to an extreme that can be astonishing? Farming is home to the concept of beware what you wish for.

     All through late winter and the spring we complained about the wind and cold, cried about how late fruit set was, and wondered if we would be done picking what meager crop we might have by Christmas. We railed at the weather. Then in mid-July we got tired of the heat, couldn't wait for reasonable weather, and worry that harvest would come too soon. Then it got cold and we grumped about that. Then in October it finally got hot again and we danced little jigs! But wait, maybe it's too hot and not that good for the grapes. Maybe just a few degrees cooler, please-oh-please. Boy, what a fickle lot we are.

Life Is Good! - Fall, 1997

     It's fall, and harvest dominates our life here at Buttonwood as it does so forcefully every year. We've written about it before in these missives, yet not enough can be said about what the harvest means. Such an amazing transformation takes place when the grapes are plucked from the vine and, through the short process of fermentation, develop into young wine.
     
     Harvest is the spiritual culmination of the year. Yes, we still have a few important months of the business of wine left, but the way we remember each calendar year is by the harvest of that year and the wines made during the season.
     
     We will look back on 1997 as a good year. After two lean years, the grapes are bountiful and tasty - the harvest and crush a joy for us. The grapes were on the vine a long time and easily matured to full ripeness. We heard tales of other winemakers racing around to pick grapes before their time in fear of El Niño. But our winemaker, Michael Brown, wasn't concerned about the potential of rain - he waited until the flavors were right and then picked, picked, picked!
     
     At the winery, Mike, Bret, and Lupe got to live out their "boys and their toys" fantasies. In the past few years, we have upgraded the destemmer, must pump, and press. All this new (to us) equipment helps produce better quality wine as a result of the machinery's gentler handling of the grapes. The cleaner, quieter, and easier to use equipment is the object of many admiring glances and comments by the guys. A new 2,500 gallon jacketed tank and three 500 gallon portable tanks (everything stainless, of course) elicit silly grins from our little gang.
     
     As 1997 draws to a close, it-s easy to exclaim that life is good at Buttonwood Farm. We all marvel at the fact that we somehow ended up working in the wine business. None of our high school dreams revolved around wine, but somehow the strange twists and turns of life brought us all together at Buttonwood. Perhaps just as surprised is our founder, Betty Williams, who originally envisioned this beautiful spot in the Santa Ynez Valley as a horse ranch, not a winery.
     
     At Buttonwood, we have the luxury of being involved from start to finish - from the growing of the grapes to the selling of the wine we make. Currently, we are experiencing the "coming of age" of Buttonwood as our wines become more widely recognized and appreciated. We greet an ever-increasing number of delightful visitors to the Farm and look forward to the future with great anticipation.
     
     But now we must barrel-down all the young wines and prepare for the holidays. As always, we thank you for supporting Buttonwood Farm Winery. And remember, anywhere and anytime you sip a Buttonwood wine, it makes us smile!

The Whole Picture - Fall, 1996

     In Betty's house there is a large room with a high-beamed ceiling and walls of windows facing east and west. On the east side, six angular, stained glass windows fit into the gable. The windows depict images from photos Betty took in the 1970s that celebrate the visual diversity of the Santa Ynez Valley. Santa Barbara artist Beth Amine executed the evocative scene.
     
     The lower foreground of the window is laced with lush, colorful flowers and exotic leaves reminiscent of the rich floral displays blooming around homes in the Valley. Another section celebrates the rolling hills found in the central and north parts of the county. Rich gray and brown variegated glass with various shades of golden yellow, depict the golden hills of California and soften the morning light as it fills the room each dawn. A background of the craggy San Rafael mountains, which border the Valley, rise majestically at the window's peak. Billowing above are cumulous clouds of glass, that mirror those that often decorate the sky here.
     
     Amongst the window's rolling glass hills lies a field that appears to be tilled for crops. Ironically, there are no vineyards pictured. In this way, the image is a window to the past, a pastoral of this land before the profound agricultural shift that has taken place over the past two decades. If Beth were to make this window today, the hills would be dotted with leafy green vineyards.
     
     In 1996 we watch as more and more grapevines are added to the changing landscape. Vineyards both large and small are sprouting up everywhere. Big wineries have come into our area, raising concerns that the charm and pace of the Valley may be ultimately lost. We don't think so. There's plenty of room for all to grow grapes and make wine. (Ed Note: It's three years later and we're beginning to wonder.)
     
     We like to think that Santa Barbara County is like our stained glass window; the large sections grab your attention and strengthen the whole Picture. But it's the small pieces that add a jewel-like quality to the mosaic. While the large wineries, with their equally large advertising budgets have a greater ability to draw attention and visitors to the area, it is the small wineries, like Buttonwood Farm, that are the gems. Without the little pieces, the picture would be incomplete.

Changing, Adjusting and Fiddling - Spring, 1996

     Here at Buttonwood, we are constantly fine-tuning our vineyard and winery. It's not just a matter of plant, pick and bottle. When we planted our vineyard, we knew what grapes we wanted and what types of wine we were going to make. Slam dunk, no questions, no problems. Now, 13 years later, we look back with a bemused smile and observe all the "fine tuning" we have done in search of what makes us happy, and Buttonwood Farm a success.
     
     Changing, adjusting and fiddling - that's our tune! A few years after we completed planting our vineyard, Betty and Bret visited the Chinon region of France and came back with a greater appreciation of cabernet franc as more than just a blending grape. So what did we do? Grafted half of Buttonwood Farm's cabernet sauvignon into more cabernet franc. A few years later, the aromatic and flavorful marsanne attracted our attention, so we budded over half of our semillon into marsanne.
     
     Here we are, years later, still adjusting the vineyard. This past March, after much pushing and prodding from our winemaker Michael Brown, we got the grafting tools out again and budded two acres of sauvignon blanc into syrah. This is a wonderful tasting red varietal that grows beautifully in the Santa Barbara area. We can't wait for our first grapes next year!
     
     All this changing, adjusting and fiddling - there's no end to our search for perfection. We are constantly experimenting with what grows best on the land, and what methods produce the finest wines. We make wines we enjoy, and most importantly, that we hope you will, as well. Because at the end of the day, how you respond to our efforts is the key to our success.
     
     (Ed Note. Since this was written in 1996, we have budded two acres of merlot into syrah, and budded one acre of cabernet franc back to cabernet sauvignon. It never ends.)

Greetings of the Seasons - Fall, 1995

     Rising at sunrise for harvest isn't necessarily our idea of a good time, but it does bring many pleasures to the senses. Early morning sounds range from chattering birds to clippers clicking, as workers voices gently rise from the field. Some dawns are shrouded in a mysterious fog; our tractor appearing like the ghost of some prehistoric beast on the prowl through the vineyard. Then, there's the sun's angle in late fall which, on clear days, creates magnificent morning light reflecting on the changing colors of our grape leaves. Nature's palette of muted reds and vibrant golds never ceases to amaze us.
     
     As each day of work comes to an end, the evening light casts a magical glow across the Santa Ynez Valley. Another successful harvest now complete, we begin our winter tasks. While the vines shed their leaves and begin their winter sleep, we move our new, young wines into barrels so they can begin to mature and transform into the fine wines you expect from us.
     
     We were thrilled with the aroma of this year's sauvignon blanc grapes as they began fermenting into wine: rich pear and apricot fragrances greeted us at the door of the winery, and turned truly intoxicating when we entered! Although the grape quality of our 1995 crop is good, the amount is small - last spring's wind and rains kept our crop at bay. Despite our diminished harvest, we predict excellent results. Quite often, a small crop yields more flavorful grapes.