Follow Foxen Canyon Road far enough into the hills above Santa Maria and the pavement turns to ranch country: oak savanna, grazing cattle, and an old wooden shack with an anchor on the sign. It looks like the middle of nowhere. It is, in fact, one of the most quietly important wineries in Santa Barbara County.

The sea captain and the anchor

The name goes back to William Benjamin Foxen, an English sea captain who sailed into Santa Barbara in the early 1800s, married into a Californio family, and in 1837 bought Rancho Tinaquaic, a Mexican land grant of nearly 9,000 acres that makes up most of what we now call Foxen Canyon. Captain Foxen branded his cattle with an anchor, a nod to his life at sea, and that anchor is the mark Foxen still stamps on every bottle. The winery sits on 2,000 acres of the original rancho, and the land has never left the family. Co-founder Dick Dore is the captain’s great-great-grandson.

Foxen as a winery began in 1985, when Dick Dore and winemaker Bill Wathen, the pair locals still call the Foxen Boys, made their first vintage in the ranch’s old blacksmith shop. That little building, known to everyone as “The Shack,” served as winery and tasting room for more than twenty years. When the partners finished a modern, solar-powered winery and tasting room down the road in 2009, they could not bear to retire the original, so the Shack was reborn as foxen 7200. There is a line the Foxen Boys love, and it tells you everything about the place: if you don’t know Foxen, you don’t know Dick, or Bill.

Minimalist in the cellar, serious about the sun, and stubbornly true to a piece of ranch land older than the state itself.

Two tasting rooms, two traditions

Foxen splits its world in two, and it is worth knowing which door you are walking through. The solar-powered FOXEN tasting room pours the Burgundian and French side of the house: Pinot Noir and Chardonnay from the cool Santa Maria Valley, including bottlings from the legendary Bien Nacido Vineyard that regularly earn mid-90-point scores, alongside Rhone and Loire varieties like Syrah and a cult-favorite Chenin Blanc. Just down the road, the original Shack, now foxen 7200, leans Italian and Bordeaux, with Sangiovese, Cabernet Franc, and old-vine field blends. The winemaking is deliberately hands-off, letting the Santa Maria fruit speak, and the whole operation runs on the sun.

Sustainability runs underneath all of it. The 2009 winery is solar-powered, and Foxen farms to SIP Certified Sustainable standards, a third-party program that audits water, energy, habitat, and labor. Bill Wathen’s winemaking leans the same way: native yeasts, a light touch in the cellar, and as little as possible standing between the vineyard and the bottle. Forty vintages in, the wines still taste like the place rather than a recipe.

What to drink it with

Few wineries give you a better range for the table. Foxen’s cool-climate Pinot Noir is built for grilled salmon or seared duck, its bright acidity cutting the richness. The Bien Nacido Chardonnay, full but balanced, is a natural with Dungeness crab in butter or a roast chicken. And because you are deep in Santa Maria Valley, the local move is unbeatable: pour the Sangiovese or Cabernet Franc from the Shack alongside Santa Maria style tri-tip, the wine’s bright acidity and savory edge slicing through the oak smoke and the fat. If you find the Chenin Blanc, save it for oysters or a wedge of goat cheese.

Plan your visit

Foxen sits on Foxen Canyon Road in the Santa Maria Valley, an easy and beautiful detour off the beaten path. The main FOXEN tasting room pours daily, while the historic Shack, foxen 7200, opens Friday through Sunday. Reservations are recommended, and yes, there are EV chargers on site for the drive home.

Frequently asked questions