Commune of Buttons Northern Lights Red Blend 2020

When Jasper Button and his sister, Sophie, moved back to the family vineyard in the Adelaide Hills, they hade no intention of making wine. For them, the journey was more about building the farm into an economically viable business. But then Jasper met Anton van Klopper of Lucy Margaux.

The trailblazing natural winemaker and all-round wildman introduced Jasper to the philosophies behind natural winemaking and how full of energy and vibrancy these wines can be. Jasper picked and processed two barrels of Chardonnay in 2013, and never looked back.

He and Sophie founded Commune of Buttons the very next year, began converting the vineyards to organic and biodynamic viticulture, and started making wines in earnest. They were quickly welcomed into the natural wine community of the Basket Range, learning and sharing knowledge with producers such as Brendon Keys of BK Wines, James Erskine of Jauma, and the late Taras Ochota from Ochota Barrels.

Validation came very quickly for Jasper, with the award for Best New Act at the Young Gun of Wine Awards 2016, and then having his 2015 ABC Chardonnay poured at Rene Redzepi's NOMA pop-up in Sydney.

Since then, the Buttons have gone from strength to strength, building their range, and sourcing fruit from outside their own vineyards to supplement their production. All of their partner vineyards share the same hands-off philosophies, and all of the fruit picked is processed with minimal intervention and maximum care by Jasper and Sophie. No additions of any kind are used during the winemaking process with tiny amounts of sulphur added just prior to bottling.