Karen Steinwach, the winemaker for Buttonwood, started us off pouring a Glass of “Zingy”, their Sauvignon Blanc. She spoke about the history and about how Betty Williams started the farm. She also told a little story about how “Zingy” the name came about, along with her interactions with a prim and proper Matron Betty, who didn’t like the name, but loved the wine. In the end the marketing team was thrown under the bus, but the name stuck.

Karen Steinwach pouring Zingy

Karen explained that she makes wine that she loves to drink and since she can’t drink it all, Buttonwood sells the rest. The essence of Buttonwood Farm is their mission to make and provide produce and wine affordably with excellent quality. The wines have an aroma, taste and quality you would associate with far more expensive wines, yet a bottle of Zingy is $20.

Karen proceeded to lead us through the Winery on the hill. Buttonwood Farm is a completely self contained operation; growing, harvesting, barreling, bottling, and selling all on their Estate.

We wandered the Vineyard as she explained the landscape, grapes, harvest and philosophy of Buttonwood.

Karen discussed how they use some of their smaller grape throw aways to make Verjus for chefs. (We will release a future version of this talk, along with Chef Pascale explaining how chefs use this)

The original 39 Acre vineyard plan was relatively simple, with largish blocks each containing a single grape varietal: Semillon, Sauvignon Blanc, Merlot, Cabernet Franc and Cabernet Sauvignon.

The focus was on Bordeaux-style wines.

Later Grenache Noir, Marsanne, Grenache Blanc, Viognier & Malbec were added.