Crossover Wine: Santa Barbara's Buttonwood Releases Wine Infused with Hops

by Gabe Saglie, Senior Editor, Travelzoo
story published in the Santa Barbara News-Press on 2/15/18

When Karen Steinwachs released Hop On, she threw the TTB for a loop. That’s because the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau, the government agency that regulates the beverage industry, didn’t have a way to designate it. Hop On, it turns out, may be the first commercial white wine infused with hops to get federal approval.

“It felt like I was going for a record for the most label rejections ever – at least five,” says Steinwachs, who’s celebrating her 11^th year as winemaker for Solvang-based Buttonwood. “Finally, I had to ask – what exactly do you want me to call it?!”

My brother, Christian, was really taken by Hop On

On the label, Hop On is described as a “hopped white wine with natural flavors.” Government regulations, or lack thereof, prevent Steinwachs from including a vintage year, or the region where the wine was grown or the grapes that went into making it. So creative, if not nebulous, labeling prevails.

In the bottle, Hop On is mostly estate-grown sauvignon blanc, with a dash of semillon. While still in the tank, the wine is infused for about three weeks with hops held inside large mesh bags. It’s then barrel fermented, and then filtered, before it’s put in bottle.

In beer making, hops are used as a bittering agent during the brewing process. Here, the hops, which are sourced from Pacific Valley Hops in Lompoc, are used exclusively as a way to impart aromatics. “I just wanted the nose of a good IPA,” says Steinwachs.

Indeed, Hop On delivers a unique, refreshing, hoppy nose, while classic sauv blanc flavors prevail. Bright acidity is tempered slightly by subtle hints of resin. The finish is clean and crisp, thought with a distinct hoppy character, too.

With Hop On, Steinwachs cleverly taps into a long-known connection between beer and wine. Most any Santa Barbara winemaker will tell you that sipping on beer is their preferred way of unwinding after a long day of making wine. Steinwachs herself is a self-avowed “beer person and a wine lover.” And her connection to the Pabst beer empire – she’s a direct descendant of the original Best Brewing Company family, via her great-great-grandfather – adds a special angle to this story.

But this crossover winemaking technique also opens up the Buttonwood brand to a new audience, while getting old fans to take a fresh new peek. “Many people have been buying it as gifts for friends who like IPAs,” Steinwachs remarks. And the hazy TTB rules inspire production, affording Steinwachs the chance to create and sell Hop On in small batches, like so many quality craft beers, rather than once a year, as dictated by vintage.

And let there be no doubt that the Buttonwood folks are taking this special way of making sauvignon blanc seriously: they’ve just planted their own ¼-acre plot of hops.

Hop On sells for $22 at buttonwoodwinery.com.

 

Buttonwood Winery & Vineyard, 1500 Alamo Pintado Rd., Solvang. 805-688-3032.

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