2015 Chanin Bien Nacido Pinot Noir Santa Maria Valley 750 ml

Chanin’s Bien Nacido Pinot is a wine that we’ve chased for a long time. Gavin’s been a friend for a years, but his top-rated Pinots and Chardonnays are usually sold out to an eager mailing list and to Michelin-starred restaurants around the world. So when he presented us with the opportunity to offer his 95-point 2015 to our members, we jumped at the chance. 

It’s a beautiful synthesis of an Old World ethos with one of the grandest vineyards in the Golden State, and an absolute steal for $45, competing with big-name Burgundy and other top California bottlings alike.

Gavin Chanin is a prodigiously talented winemaker. In fact, he had four harvests under his belt by the time he turned 21, and a pair of legendary mentors in Jim Clendenen of Au Bon Climat and Bob Lindquist, of Qupe. He founded his namesake label just after graduating college—and was a San Francisco Chronicle “Winemaker to Watch” just four years later.

That sort of meteoric rise isn’t an accident. Rather, it’s proof of his natural talent—something that anyone who’s tried his wines would attest to. They grace the lists of top restaurants like Eleven Madison Park and SingleThread for good reason—Chanin has a preternatural ability to combine a European sense of balance with top California vineyards to produce wines that are astoundingly good and exceptional in their combination of fruit and minerality. 

In the glass, the ruby-red wine shows off an intoxicating mix of bright red fruits, from wild strawberries to griotte cherries, accented by beautiful floral notes, a streak of rosemary and thyme, and a touch of black tea. The silky texture is the first thing that’s striking about the palate, which takes the nose and adds black cherries, violets, and a hint of fresh fennel before a long mineral finish. The balance and brightness scream Burgundy, but the fruit profile is decidedly Bien Nacido—California all the way, but not overdone.

Bien Nacido is one of the true Grand Cru sites in California, and Gavin’s bottling draws from some of the original 1973 plantings. He describes the site as “the perfect combination of soil and climate” in the heart of the best part of the Santa Maria Valley, where eroded limestone mixes with gravel and alluvial deposits to provide complexity and age-worthiness. The Wall Street Journal declared it one of California’s top five vineyards, and it’s been the source of some legendary bottlings over the years, though Gavin’s is very much a singular wine.

While most winemakers who work with Bien Nacido pick late to push for maximum ripeness, Chanin times his harvesting decision to create brightness and verve in the wines, trusting that the site will provide classic California fruit.

The resulting wine is thrilling, with the texture and fruit to seduce West Coast Pinot lovers and a structure and brightness that reminds us of Burgundy—especially after a few years in the bottle. His wines reward age, which is why it’s really nice to be offering the 2015 right now—it’s just starting to hit its stride, but will happily improve in your cellar for a decade if you have the patience.

Gavin says he tells sommeliers that “if you’re in a bind, pour this wine”—a testament to its unique combination of up-front appeal and food friendliness. Antonio Galloni called his ‘15 Pinots “among the wines of the vintage” while declaring that they “rise into the realm of the sublime.” 

These gems of California’s Central Coast are usually sold through Gavin’s expansive mailing list and to top restaurants around the world. We’ve tried to get these wines for our members for years, and finally have the chance to offer them to you today. They’ve been worth the wait.