20010 Buttonwood Sauvignon Blanc $14.00
Our Signature Wine
Our “Signature blend” of our crowd-pleasing version of our flagship varietal, Sauvignon Blanc. A true yin-yang of a wine, the 11% barrel fermented Semillon rounds out the raciness of the 88% stainless-steel fermented Sauvignon Blanc in a classic blend with a wide-ranging appeal.

Tasting Notes
A pale gold color with green-gold chartreuse highlights simply shines in the glass, visually stating its crisp and refreshing nature. A swirl unleashes lemon-lime and classic Sauvignon Blanc aromatics of gooseberry and straw. The wine is crisp and zesty upon first sip, briskly delivering tropical flavors of guava and passionfruit, and then melding on the mid-palate with pear and cardamom spice. The flinty, mineral characteristic that we call “buttonwoodish” is evident with the finish, which echoes much of the entry with citrusy notes of lime and grapefruit. The 2010 Signature Blend meets our criteria of a yin-yang of brisk acidity and creamy texture in the middle, and the whole cluster element brings a hint of stem tannin texture that adds just another bit of complexity.

Pairing Ideas

This is a very versatile wine and can easily move from season to season. Barbecued chicken, Caesar salad, Fruit Salad, Sole Meuniere, Lobster, spicy Curry. The possibilities are endless.                                                                                                                                                                                   2630 cases produced

2010 Buttonwood Sauvignon Blanc "Zingy" $18.00 Gold Medal
Overview
Zingy is a selection made in the vineyard from specific blocks where the grapes shout of the essence of Sauvignon Blanc even while on the vine. Bottled with no barrel or malo-lactic influence, 2010 Zingy is fresh, pure and so, so Sauvignon Blanc.

Tasting Notes
Brilliant in the glass, 2010 Zingy Sauvignon blanc sports a light gold-green color that visually predicts of its pure nature. Pretty as it is, the hue is completely overshadowed by the astounding aromatics that leap from the glass with a first swirl. Aromas of springtime fruit blossoms, ruby red grapefruit and a stony minerality just soar from the glass. In one word, the wine’s bouquet is “fresh”. On the palate, it is indeed zingy (and also zesty and even zippy) with clean and bracing citrusy notes mingling with white peach and pomelo, and a lemon-lime brightness. Yet, with all its zinginess, there is still a pretty roundness and fruitiness on the palate, and a long pleasing finish.

Pairing ideas
Seafood, particularly dishes with the saltiness of these such as oysters. Also a very good pairing with spicy food, such as Pad Thai.

Just 403 cases produced.

2008 Buttonwood Marsanne $22.00
Marsanne is one of two Rhone varieties grown among a bevy of Bordeaux grapes in the Buttonwood Farm vineyard. While interest in all of the Rhone varieties is increasing and Santa Barbara County has blazed the trail in production of wines produced from these remarkable grapes, Buttonwood remains one of the few California wineries to procuce this unique white wine. Buttonwood 2008 Marsanne is a delicate beauty. Subtle flavors of honey, pear and spice tease the taste buds while the light body an pleasantly tart finish make it a fine accompaniment with many first course dishes.

Serve Marsanne with butternut squash soup drizzled with cream and sprinkled with cumin.

238 cases produced.

2009 Grenache Blanc $22.00

Overview
A Buttonwood Farm debutante!  This inaugural bottling of Grenache Blanc is the first from the vineyard and is a delightful addition to our Rhone program.  Although white rhone blends will make their way to the Buttonwood Farm portfolio, this first release is 100% Grenache Blanc as a way to showcase the beauty of this new-to-Buttonwood Farm grape.

Tasting Notes
Our own Buttonwood Farm version speaks not only to the traditional flavor profile of the varietal, but also to our own unique vineyard.  The long, cold fermentation preserved the natural bouquet of the wine which tend to remind of delicate aromas of white blossoms.  A swirl of the straw-colored wine releases a stony, maritime-type of nose and hints of exotic fruit. On the palate, a hint of guava and starfruit joins summertime fruit nuances of white peach, green melon and orange peel on the very long-lasting finish that sports a bit of dusty minerality.   

The smokiness from grilled halibut or butterfish will nicely complement the floral/fruit notes of Grenache blanc.  It seems to scream for rich seafood dishes, such as a lobster risotto, due to the bright acidity in the wine.  A perfectly roasted chicken would be delightful, and maybe, just maybe, a stuffed artichoke.

2009 Devin $24.00
Overview
A classic “white Bordeaux” blend with a layer of complexity added from French Oak barrel fermentation
.

Tasting Notes
The 2009 Devin shines brilliantly in the glass with a pale gold color. Aromas of kaffir lime leaf and green pear, along with a flint-like stoney characteristic waft from the glass with a swirl. A richness is evident even before a first sip, which at first enlivens the palate with lime zest and then rewards with honeycomb and lemon curd notes. Succulent and refreshing, rich and viscous and lingering with notes of brioche and toasted vanilla adding texture and complexity. Devin brings all the lively characteristics of Sauvignon Blanc together with the fullness and weight of Semillon. Devin should be served just slightly chilled, to cellar temperature of 55-57° 60% Sauvignon Blanc, 40% Semillon. 100% barrel fermented and aged. Vegan.

Pairing ideas
Chicken Cordon Bleu, Macadamia Crusted Mahi-Mahi

172 cases produced

2010 Buttonwood Syrah Rose' $16.00
Syrah in the Vineyard

Perhaps this is where our commitment to making a traditionally serious rosé is most prevalent. We GROW rosé here. The southern edge of our east-west facing block 3 is dedicated to growing Syrah just for rosé.  It is farmed so that we can pick it early in the season, at lower sugars but with the bright and fresh berry flavors that we seek in the wine.  During the growing season, the vines are meticulously tucked into the vertical trellis and the canopy is opened up by early leaf-pulling to expose the fruit zone. As the Syrah is also on its own roots, our belief is that our rosé carries nuances of the soil and the vineyard as well as being playfully serious.

The Vintage
This was a challenging vintage due to strange weather conditions throughout the entire growing season. Whereas we escaped any frost during budbreak, and had calm weather during flowering that resulted in a good grape set, the record breaking cool temperatures and cloudy summer (aka the "bummer summer") provided little heat or sun for growth and kept the vineyard crew on their toes. Aggressive leafing opened up the canopy to allow airflow to combat moisture and let what sunshine there was into the canopy. Sugar levels were coming into range where we like to pick, but the acid levels in the grapes were still high due to the cold weather. And then just when we thought we would never get any warm weather, a four-day triple-degree heat spike toward the end of August brought ripening back on schedule. Not done with us yet, Mother Nature sent rainstorms on 10/4 and 10/5 influencing our pick decision. Sugar levels dipped again, so we gave the syrah a few days to dry out and picked at 21 brix on October 11th.

Winemaking Notes
About one half of the Rosé Syrah harvest was whole cluster pressed to a cold, stainless steel tank in the early morning of October 11th, with the remainder of the pick then put into the press, slightly pressed to juice and the press closed up. This mixture of juice and skins was left in the press in the cold night and early morning temperatures for about a 24-hour skin contact plus cold soak. The next day, this dark pink juice was pressed to the same stainless steel tank, inoculated with rosé yeast and slowly went through primary fermentation. The chiller was turned on to max cold on November 4th to inhibit malo-lactic fermentation. In early December, one-half barrel of 2010 Syrah was added for additional body in the wine and the 2010 Syrah Rosé was filtered and bottled on January 20th, 2011. Nice and low in alcohol and vegan, of course.

Tasting Notes
The 2010 Syrah Rosé sports a dark fuchsia color that seems to dance in the glass. Bright and beautiful, a swirl produces a classic nose of wild strawberries, dogwood rose and watermelon. The wine is bright and lively on the palate with notes of peach and clementine mingling with additional strawberry flavors, a reminder of Jolly Rancher watermelon candy and tart pomegranate. Very refreshing and yet a nice structural, soft passionfruit tea tannin and the chalky minerality that is a hallmark of our Buttonwood Farm vineyard remind that it is a seriously refreshing wine!

Pairing Ideas
Spicy foods such as crayfish jambalaya and those classic summer fish dishes - New England lobster bake, Paella, Bouillabaisse. Or simply a day off, a warm day, a hammock and a good book.

316 cases produced

2008 Buttonwood Merlot $22.00

Overview

A “euro-styled” Merlot that displays the character of older vines.  

Tasting Notes
There is no lack of color with Buttonwood Farm red wines, and the 2008 Merlot struts its stuff with a deep garnet hue with dark ruby edges. Truly a gorgeous color and mesmerizing. But this is a wine for drinking, not
staring!  Red berry notes predominate, with a bouquet of redcurrant and boysenberry joining bay leaf and yeasty aromas.  A sip brings textural components that are smooth, bright and lightly tannic at the same time, delivering fruit notes of red plum and dried cherry, spicy notes of anise and cedar and a mineral, graphite nuance that is distinctly from the vineyard. This is not a fruit-bomb Merlot, but rather a stylish and ageable wine where the flavors, acids and tannins work harmoniously together. 

Pairing ideas
Porterhouse steak with grilled onions, Spaghetti Bolognese, blue-veined hard cheeses

2008 Buttonwood Cabernet Franc $22.00Gold Medal

Overview
A tiny bottling of our more delicate Bordeaux red at Buttonwood Farm Vineyard. Almost a “survival of the fittest” after three frosts in the Franc block during 2008, this vintage is an almost feminine version of our star of the annual FrancFest celebration of this enchanting grape.  

Tasting Notes
This is definitely a vintage-specific Cabernet Franc, with a much more delicate profile than usual. However, the deep and dark crimson color typical of our vineyard continues to impress with a deeply colored body and slightly lighter edges gracing the glass. The 2008 Franc is highly aromatic with a perfumed nose of blueberry, sweet obacco leaf and herbs that remind of bouquet garni. Medium-bodied with much softer, fine grained tannins than previous vintages, the palate is rewarded with enticing flavors of mulberry, currant, raspberry compote and a hint of star anise on the finish.

Pairing ideas
Lamb shank with spice cous cous, pheasant or grilled quail, smoky grilled vegetables

2007 Buttonwood Cabernet Sauvignon $24.00
A noble representation of the “King of Red Grapes”, the 2007 Cabernet Sauvignon also displays the incredible qualities of that 2007 “vintage of the decade”. Deep, rich color, taste and texture in a wine that will only continue to get better with cellaring.

At Buttonwood Farm, we are used to having darkly colored red wines – but this 2007 Cabernet goes even beyond with its incredibly deep indigo color. On the nose, aromas of dark berries mingling with freshly baked bread, cedar plank and vanilla bean. Intense flavors of blackberry, cassis, blackcurrant and plum interlace with lively red cranberry and ripe plum, along with a brambly undertone and bakers chocolate nuances. Beautifully balanced with pretty acidity and medium tannins, this is a wine that will shine with a meal, inspire a conversation and age gracefully in your cellar for the next 7-10 years. We recommend allowing this wine to breathe prior to enjoyment – either with decanting or aerating with a vinturi or a good, old fashioned swirl!

Pairing ideas
Pot roast comes to mind. The wine has a lot of tannin texture and good acid which leads to thoughts of roast meats that have a little fat/marbling, and definitely garlic smashed potatoes with gravy.

301 cases produced

2008 Buttonwood Syrah $22.00

Overview
A small but elegant estate bottling of Syrah, in a very Northern Rhone style.

Tasting Notes
Deep and dark garnet and a brilliant clarity and maroon edges proclaim an intense wine experience.  On the nose, white pepper and spice mingle with smoky earthy notes and red fruits, mostly berries.  A sip brings dark red plum, boysenberry, cola and more spicy notes, along with hints of dried cranberry and raspberry. The 2008 estate Syrah is full bodied and beautifully integrated with fresh acidity, soft tannins and intriguing flavors that evolve in the glass.  The finish is refreshing and long.   Upon wine club release, this wine is still a youngster.  The wine will love some aeration at release time, and will continue to improve with cellaring.  

Pairing ideas
Osso Bucco

2007 Buttonwood Sangiovese $28.00

Overview
A food-friendly wine made with “Super Tuscan” inspiration. Sangiovese from the Alisos Vineyard in the Los Alamos Valley meets Cabernet Sauvignon from our estate Buttonwood Farm Vineyard for a super blend!  

Tasting Notes
That splash of Buttonwood Farm Cabernet not only adds richness to this “Super-Tuscan” blend, but color!  A dark ruby color beckons to the glass, where a swirl unleashes smoky vanilla notes, a hint of bacon and rose petals mingling with tart cherry. On the palate, the wine is smooth….delivering flavors and textures seamlessly to the taste buds. High notes of cranberry, wild raspberry and clove are met with lilting acidity, long tasty tannins and the richness of blackberry and mulberry.  Beautifully structured, this 2007 Sangiovese blend has a lingering and persistent finish.

Pairing ideas
Lamb Ragu

2007 Buttonwood Trevin $36.00

Overview
Trevin is our flagship Bordeaux blend and the “best of the best”. The Tres Vins (three wines) of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Cabernet Franc meld into a seamless, rich and robust, complex wine that gains even more sophistication with additional years of cellaring.

Tasting Notes
Deep and dark, full of garnet and maroon color and a depth that shouts that this is a serious wine – Claret in color and composition. The nose is a cornucopia of blackcurrant, cedar, olive tapenade, milk chocolate and garden sage. The first sip reveals a velvety texture that brings flavors of blackberry, cassis, black cherry and plum, along with a nice thread of dried raspberry and minerality. Very layered and very balanced, with fine, dusty tannins, good food-loving acids and beautiful structure. The finish is long, lingering and layered with reminders of black berries, exotic spice, sarsaparilla and a hint of vanilla bean. After 36 months in barrel and 9 months in bottle at release, this is still a youngster and will continue to gain style with aging.

Pairing ideas
Prime Rib Roast with roast potatoes, Grilled Squab, Wild mushroom risotto.

273 cases produced

2007 Buttonwood P.o.s.h. 375 ml $24.00
In the Vineyard We have two fields of Syrah in our vineyard. One block runs east to west and is normally reserved for Rosé. The grapes for that perfectly pink wine are picked early in the season, but for the 2007 vintage we decided to let a small portion of that block “hang out” and see just how ripe they would get.

Vintage
2007 was one of those gorgeous vintages, with moderate temperatures during the growing season providing extended time on the vines, producing grapes of superb concentration and intensity as well as lively acidity.  We harvested the 1.16 tons of grapes for our “Port Experiment” Thanksgiving week.

Winemaking
Definitely the last grapes to come into the winery at the very end of November, we fired up the de-stemmer one last time and let the berries fall into an open top fermenter.  After a few days of cool-soak to extract color and spice from the skins, the raisinlike grapes were inoculated with a cultured yeast. Punched down twice each day to continue the integration of skin with juice, fermentation was carefully monitored.  At 15° Brix, the free run wine was drained and the skins pressed to barrel, with fermentation continuing for another 5 degrees of sugar. At that point the fermentation was stopped by the addition of unaged grape brandy. This fortification resulted in a sweet dessert wine with a 20% alcohol level.  Once fortified, the wine was racked off its lees frequently during the early time of its aging process, but once solids had all been removed the wine was left in barrel without any topping. In this particular style of winemaking, oxidation is good!  The 2007 P.o.s.h. aged for 35 months in neutral French Oak barrels prior to being bottled in 375ml bottles in November 2010.

Tasting Notes
As urban legend has it, the initials P.O.S.H. stand for “Port out, starboard home,” a term that denotes the best (away from the sun) cabin position for British passengers sailing between home and India.  It was a posh way to travel, you see, because only the wealthy could afford the arrangement.  Whether or not this word origin is genuine or a legend, posh has undeniably come to mean sumptuous and luxurious- which perfectly describes this decadently rich dessert wine.  From gorgeous dark garnet hues to its velvety texture and anise/framboise/dried berry flavors, P.o.s.h. exudes richness and elegance.  And the warm lingering finish just goes on and on and on…  We suggest serving P.o.s.h with a selection of hard and blue cheeses, dried fruit, almonds and chocolate at the start or end of a meal … if you can wait that long.                

86 cases produced.

2005 BW 1.5L $75.00
To celebrate her arrival as Buttonwood's winemaker, Karen Steinwachs created this rich, complex wine as a tribute to Buttonwood founder Betty Williams. "BW" blends the best from the four red varietals from the vineyard into a wine of strength and elegance, just like its namesake. Available only in 1.5L Magnum.

Serve BW with Roast Beef and Yorkshire Pudding.

143 bottles produced.

2007 Hawk Red $14.00
Labeled with an image from the brush of artist and Buttonwood partner Seyburn Zorthian, Hawk Red is named for one of the "natural partners" that populate the Buttonwood Farm Vineyard. As harvest draws near, hawks can be seen circling high above the vineyard, performing the essential service of discouraging grape-eating linnets and starlings from ravaging the vines. The mighty hawks of harvest are an awesome sight to behold and we are proud to count them among our fellow inhabitants here at Buttonwood.

Enjoy this everyday table wine with a variety of food from simple stews to fancy roasts.

1189 cases produced.