The Science of Soil: Tristan Butterfield Leads the Resurrection of Chateau Ste. Michelle’s Legendary Ethos Brand

By TOM MARQUARDT and PATRICK DARR

We could fill a cellar with corks from all the winemakers we’ve encountered who traded their briefcases for pruning shears. When staring down decades beneath fluorescent lights in sterile labs or concrete office parks, these refugees from conventional careers instead chose the rhythm of seasons and the alchemy of fermentation. Their stories are enough to inspire envy.

Tristan Butterfield is one such person who undoubtedly pleased his parents with a physics degree from the University of Notre Dame. After graduation, he had a lot of fun with a couple of intriguing environmental projects, but then he joined his parents on a trip to Australia that became a career pivot. After joining his parents traipsing through vineyards and tasting wines in Barossa, Adelaide, and Eden Valley, he caught the bug.

“I didn’t see it coming,” he said. Well, his parents probably didn’t either.

He said the vineyard tour aroused his senses: seeing the lush, rolling vineyards, smelling fermenting wine and barrels, then tasting the wine.

“It started to click,” he said.

Butterfield couldn’t stomach the thought of more classroom time for an oenology degree, so he sought an unconventional path into the industry. From his Seattle home, he began a campaign of cold calls to wineries across the region: did they have any entry-level jobs? His persistence paid off when Doug Brazil of Chateau Faire Le Pont Winery in Wenatchee answered his call and even gave him a place to stay. At the chateau, no task was beneath him—whether it was cleaning tanks, hauling hoses, cleaning out fermentation tanks, or simply mowing the lawn around the estate. From there, he worked at Hogue and then at Kiona before landing a job with Chateau Ste. Michelle is located close by in Woodinville.

Learning through mistakes has its consequences, like the time he pruned vines too much and they died. But he persevered with the patience of his bosses. Slowly, he learned the business from the ground up, and now the self-starter is behind a resurrected Ste. Michelle’s brand is called Ethos.

The memory of Ethos from the 1990s still lingers on our palates. Within Ste. Michelle’s extensive collection, this cabernet sauvignon blend stood as one of Washington’s crown jewels—a testament to the state’s winemaking prowess through its layered complexity and distinguished character. Ste. Michelle owns some of Washington’s best vineyards, including Cold Creek and Horse Heaven Hills.

Ste. Michele Wine Estates has dominated Washington winemaking for decades, but sold to the Altria Group in 2021 when it was valued at its peak. But Altria—formerly Phillip Morris—was known more for office supply and clothing stores than wine. It sold the company’s premium brands Col Solare, Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars, and Patz & Hall. Ethos was relaunched in 2022.

Now under the Wyckoff family’s ownership, Ethos is back in a leadership role. The Wyckoffs have been making custom wine for Ste. Michelle Wine Estates since the 1980s and is very well respected. They were the perfect buyer to restore the luster to Washington’s most renowned wine producer.

We tasted the 2022 Ethos, a blend of cabernet sauvignon, merlot and cabernet franc. Unlike the overly extracted version we remember, this wine is more balanced with crisp acidity and bright, green fruit character. Refined blackberry and cherry flavors with fine tannins and a dash of dark chocolate. Alas, Ethos’s target audience is restaurants rather than retail stores.

Butterfield has a lot of flexibility to use top lots among Ste. Michelle Vineyards as well as vineyards not owned by the producer. The appellation is Columbia Valley, but for this wine, Butterfield sourced grapes from Horse Heaven Hills, Red Mountain, and Wahluke. He also has Ste. Michelle’s vast inventory of barrels to use.

Butterfield said he puts a lot of miles on his truck, crossing the state and keeping an eye on certain vineyards he wants to use each year. “I make a lot of mental notes,” he said.

Although he wants to stick with his favorite lots, he keeps an open mind to adding new sources that will augment what he’s trying to accomplish.

While acknowledging the headwinds facing the wine industry, Butterfield hopes consumers will make Ethos a part of their conversation and want to know more after tasting it. Its price on a restaurant menu will be around $70, which makes it a pretty good deal.  Only 1,000 cases are made annually.

Washington state has struggled to compete with regions like Napa Valley, yet it produces great cabernet sauvignon for those willing to seek it out.

Wine picks

Vale do Bomfim Red 2023 ($15). This remains one of the best deals on the market. Light in style, this Douro wine from Dow’s is breezy and lively with bright aromatics and ripe dark fruit. It is a blend of touriga nacional, tinta roriz, touriga franca, and tinta barroca.

Domaine St. Laurent Block One Estate Pinot Noir 2023 ($20). This wine from the Rogue Valley is a great value for pinot noir.  Raspberry and cherry flavors, great mouthfeel and medium body.

Gary Farrell Lancel Creek Vineyard Pinot Noir 2021 ($75).  With the vineyard located on a few miles from the Pacific Ocean on the Sonoma Coast, the grapes for this luxurious pinot noir get the warm days but relief from cool nights and dense morning fog.  These ideal conditions for pinot noir produce a layered and complex wine with generous tart red fruit and herbal aromas. Black cherry flavors with a hint of cedar round it off.

Turnbull Black Label Cabernet Sauvignon 2022 ($180). This marquee wine from the producer is a head-turner, for sure. Using only the best grapes and made in small quantities, is has opulence, texture, concentration and depth. The 8 percent cabernet franc in the blend brings out herbs and other flavors to bring lift and subtlety to the wine.  Plum and blackberry notes.