Down in the Funk Zone, Santa Barbara’s walkable warehouse wine district by the beach, one of the more elegant rooms belongs to Grassini. The wines, though, come from a very different place: the hot, Bordeaux-friendly hills of Happy Canyon, an hour inland.

Bordeaux from the canyon, poured by the sea

Grassini Family Vineyards is a family-owned estate in the Happy Canyon AVA, the warmest corner of Santa Barbara County and the rare place that ripens Bordeaux red grapes with ease. The Grassini family farms estate Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, and Sauvignon Blanc on the warm canyon hillsides, then pours them in a polished downtown tasting room, bringing serious red wine to the relaxed, beachy energy of the Funk Zone.

The wines

Grassini is a Bordeaux house: structured, age-worthy estate Cabernet Sauvignon and Bordeaux blends with firm tannin and dark fruit, alongside a crisp, herbal Sauvignon Blanc. These are some of the more serious red wines you can taste in downtown Santa Barbara, grown on the warm Happy Canyon ground that suits them.

What to drink it with

The Cabernet and the Bordeaux blends want a fatty ribeye or a rack of lamb, where the wine’s firm tannin binds to the fat and protein and both come out softer and rounder. The Sauvignon Blanc is a classic with fresh goat cheese or oysters, the wine and the cheese sharing the same green, grassy note.

Plan your visit

Grassini pours in a stylish tasting room in the Santa Barbara Funk Zone, walkable from the waterfront and the Urban Wine Trail. Reservations are recommended on weekends.

Frequently asked questions