Chanin
Chanin is a Santa Barbara négociant-style operation focused on Chardonnay and Pinot Noir from benchmark Central Coast vineyards, with a Syrah thread running quietly beneath. The wines are site-specific, restrained, and built for the table.
History
Chanin was founded by Gavin Chanin, who came up through the Santa Barbara wine scene in the early 2010s while still young, cutting his teeth at Bien Nacido and gaining early attention for wines that punched well above their price points. He studied at Cal Poly and later worked closely with established producers in the region before launching his own label. The project began modestly, sourcing fruit from a handful of respected vineyards, and has remained deliberately small in scale. Chanin has no estate vineyard of his own; the entire program is built on relationships with growers, some of whom farm parcels that have been in continuous production since the 1970s. That grower-dependent model has kept the operation lean and the focus sharp.
Vineyards
The vineyards Chanin draws from represent a cross-section of Santa Barbara's most established sites. Bien Nacido, in the Santa Maria Valley, is among the oldest continuously farmed wine grape vineyards in the county, planted on sandy loam over clay with strong marine influence from the valley's transverse orientation. Sanford and Benedict, in Sta. Rita Hills, sits on benchland soils with significant diurnal temperature swing and persistent afternoon wind, conditions that push ripening long and slow. Los Alamos occupies a warmer inland pocket by Santa Barbara standards, producing fruit with more flesh and less structural austerity than the coastal sites. Zotovich, the source for the Syrah, is a cooler-climate site well suited to the variety's savory, northern-Rhone-leaning profile. Chanin does not farm these vineyards directly; he works within whatever farming protocols each grower maintains, which vary by site.
Winemaking
Chanin's approach in the cellar is restrained. The Chardonnays are fermented in barrel with native yeasts, go through full malolactic fermentation, and spend extended time on the lees before bottling. Oak use is present but measured; the wines read as textured and complete rather than obviously wooded. The Pinot Noirs are whole-cluster fermented to varying degrees depending on the vintage and the site, with the structural vineyards like Sanford and Benedict typically receiving more whole cluster than the rounder Los Alamos fruit. Aging is in French oak, with new oak percentages kept low enough that the barrels function as vessels rather than flavoring agents. The Syrah follows a similar logic: cool-climate fruit, minimal intervention, enough time in barrel to integrate without losing freshness. Across the range, the county-appellation bottlings serve as accessible entry points, while the single-vineyard wines are where the project's argument for site specificity is made most clearly.
Wines
2023 Pinot Noir (Sta. Rita Hills)
2023 Chardonnay (Santa Barbara County)
2022 Pinot Noir Los Alamos Vineyard
2022 Pinot Noir Bien Nacido Vineyard
2022 Chardonnay Zotovich
2022 Chardonnay Los Alamos Vineyard
2022 Chardonnay Sanford & Benedict Vineyard
2022 Pinot Noir Zotovich Vineyard
2022 Pinot Noir Sanford & Benedict Vineyard
2022 Syrah Zotovich Vineyard
2022 Chardonnay Bien Nacido Vineyard
2021 Syrah Durrell Vineyard
2021 Pinot Noir Los Alamos Vineyard
2021 Chardonnay Los Alamos Vineyard
2021 Pinot Noir Zotovich Vineyard
2021 Chardonnay Zotovich
2021 Pinot Noir Sanford & Benedict Vineyard
2021 Chardonnay Sanford & Benedict Vineyard
2021 Chardonnay Bien Nacido Vineyard
2019 Pinot Noir Los Alamos Vineyard
2019 Pinot Noir Zotovich Vineyard
2019 Pinot Noir Bien Nacido Vineyard
2019 Pinot Noir Schock Family Vineyard
2019 Pinot Noir Sanford & Benedict Vineyard
2019 Chardonnay Los Alamos Vineyard
2019 Chardonnay Sanford & Benedict Vineyard
2019 Chardonnay Bien Nacido Vineyard
2018 Pinot Port
2018 Chardonnay Los Alamos Vineyard
2018 Pinot Noir Los Alamos Vineyard
2018 Syrah Schock Family Vineyard
2018 Chardonnay Bien Nacido Vineyard
2018 Pinot Noir Reserve
2018 Pinot Noir Bien Nacido Vineyard
2018 Pinot Noir Sanford & Benedict Vineyard
2018 Pinot Noir Schock Family Vineyard
2017 Pinot Noir Schock Family Vineyard
2017 Pinot Noir Sanford & Benedict Vineyard
2017 Pinot Noir Bien Nacido Vineyard
2017 Pinot Noir (Sta. Rita Hills)
2017 Pinot Noir Los Alamos Vineyard
2017 Chardonnay Sanford & Benedict Vineyard
2017 Chardonnay Los Alamos Vineyard
2017 Chardonnay Bien Nacido Vineyard
2016 Pinot Noir (Santa Barbara County)
2016 Pinot Noir Los Alamos Vineyard
2016 Chardonnay Los Alamos Vineyard
2016 Chardonnay Sanford & Benedict Vineyard
2016 Chardonnay Bien Nacido Vineyard
2016 Pinot Noir Bien Nacido Vineyard
2016 Pinot Noir Sanford & Benedict Vineyard
2015 Chardonnay Bien Nacido
2015 Pinot Noir Los Alamos Vineyard
2015 Chardonnay Los Alamos Vineyard
2015 Chardonnay Sanford & Benedict
2015 Pinot Noir Bien Nacido Vineyard
2015 Pinot Noir Sanford & Benedict Vineyard
2015 Pinot Noir Duvarita Vineyard
2014 Pinot Noir Los Alamos Vineyard
2014 Pinot Noir Bien Nacido Vineyard
2014 Pinot Noir Duvarita Vineyard
2014 Pinot Noir Sanford & Benedict Vineyard
2014 Chardonnay Los Alamos Vineyard
2014 Chardonnay Sanford & Benedict
2014 Chardonnay Bien Nacido
2013 Pinot Noir Duvarita Vineyard
2013 Pinot Noir La Rinconada Vineyard
2013 Pinot Noir Bien Nacido Vineyard
2013 Pinot Noir Los Alamos Vineyard
2013 Pinot Noir Sanford & Benedict Vineyard
2013 Chardonnay Sanford & Benedict
2013 Pinot Noir Zotovich Vineyard
2013 Chardonnay Bien Nacido
2013 Chardonnay Los Alamos Vineyard
2012 Pinot Noir Sanford & Benedict Vineyard
2012 Pinot Noir Bien Nacido Vineyard
2012 Pinot Noir Los Alamos Vineyard
2012 Pinot Noir La Rinconada Vineyard
2012 Chardonnay Los Alamos Vineyard
2012 Chardonnay Sanford & Benedict Vineyard
2012 Chardonnay Bien Nacido Vineyard
2011 Pinot Noir Bien Nacido Vineyard