Canihan Winery

It started with a dream in 1920 when a young man named August Siegrist came to America. Born in Switzerland in a village outside of Zurich, August and his mother Anna worked the vineyards as a way of life, and as a way of survival. While working the hillside vineyards planted with Pinot Noir and other cool climate varietals, August cultivated a passion for wine.

It was not until many years later that this passion for wine was explored by August’s son-in-law, Bill Canihan Sr. In an effort to continue August’s dream, the family purchased a farm in Sonoma in 1973. Farmed organically by a Basque farmer for the past 60 years, this 20-acre ranch remained unplanted of vines for 25 years.

Bill Canihan Jr (August’s Grandson) started the Canihan Family Winery in 2006 upon release of the family’s first commercial vintage, 2004. Prior to bringing the winery to life, Bill enjoyed participating in blind wine tastings and spent the first 20 years of his professional career as a mortgage broker specializing in commercial real estate. After helping small businesses survive and grow, Bill was ready to follow his passion for exceptional wine.

Our Wines

The Canihan vineyards are ideally located in Sonoma, on the border of the Sonoma Coast and Carneros Appellations. The vineyards receive the cool evening breezes and frequent fog from the San Francisco Bay that provide perfect grape growing conditions.  We produce acclaimed, boutique wines from our certified organic, dry-farmed estate vineyards located at the intersection of the Sonoma Valley, Sonoma Coast, and Los Carneros appellations.

We’re known for our minimal intervention winemaking, creating intensely flavorful, cool-climate wines with strict yield limits of under two tons per acre.