A Fond Farewell

In 1986, Betty and Bret delivered a ton of sauvignon blanc grapes to each of three winemakers in the Santa Ynez Valley. One of them was Michael Brown, who was at the time the winemaker at the old Santa Ynez Winery. The resulting wines were all different, and Mike's was the long term best. In 1988, Betty was at a Christmas party where she announced that she was looking for a winemaker for her new winery. Mike stepped forward and said he'd make our wine. Now, after 17 years and 18 harvests, Mike and Buttonwood are saying goodbye to each other.

Mike was there for anything of importance that happened at the winery. He advised and guided the many changes that took place over the years. From what grapes were grown in the vineyard to the color of the bottles, Mike was there. And we were there for him, offering support for the development of his Kalyra brand, and cheering him on with his marriage to Kathy, and subsequent birth of their two daughters.

Now it's time for a change for both of us. Kalyra has grown to a size that it needs Mike's full attention, and we need someone who can focus on Buttonwood, and move it to the next level. So we say farewell to Mike with enormous gratitiude, and thank him for the many fine wines he made for us over the years!

An Excited Hello

The Santa Barbara wine community is actually very small. There may be almost 100 wineries, yet there are very few "available" winemakers or assistant winemakers. Fortunately for Buttonwood there was an assistant winemaker who was ready to take charge of her own winery. For the past three years, Karen Steinwachs has been the assistant winemaker at Fiddlehead Cellars, working with the wonderful Kathy Joseph. For the preceding three years she worked at Foley Estates Vineyard & Winery, assisting the equally wonderful Norm Yost (he's now Flying Goat Cellars). and before that there were 20-some odd years in high tech marketing. Sounds good to us because all wineries need as much marketing expertise as they can get.) Here we have a solid, well-rounded person of the world who loves wine!

Since the beginning of March when she started, we have been impressed and heartened by her knowledge, attention to detail, excitement and humor. Karen looks forward to carrying on the Buttonwood traditions of sustainable vineyard management, small lot winemaking, and environmental sensitivity while incorporating her own style of winemaking. She has the ideas and attitude needed to move Buttonwood forward.

And forward is where we're headed. The world of wine is changing so quickly that a long vacation might find your business sitting on the side of the road without any wheels. Buttonwood is looking at every grape we grow and every wine we make. We're looking at what we like, what we do that works, and what Karen is interested in doing. We've made some great wines over the years hat have been well received by you. We plan to make even more great wines and completely capture your palate.