Antonio Galloni’s 2016 Vinous Reviews

We are thrilled to receive the fol­low­ing wine reviews from Anto­nio Gal­loni, the founder of the online wine pub­li­ca­tion Vinous, dur­ing his annu­al vis­it to the San­ta Bar­bara wine region.

​“This is a strong set of wines from Steve Beck­men. In par­tic­u­lar, I was quite impressed with the 2014 Syrahs because of their ener­gy and pre­ci­sion. The 2014 Cuvée Le Bec, the estate’s entry-lev­el red, also points to a strong vin­tage here. Slight changes in cooper­age, and less oak influ­ence over­all, have start­ed to pay div­i­dends. With­in the con­text of Bal­lard Canyon, and espe­cial­ly com­pared to Jona­ta and Stolp­man (both of which are neigh­bors), the Beck­men Syrahs are a bit more restrained in style.” – Anto­nio Galloni

2014 Purisima Mountain Vineyard Block Six Syrah

Rat­ing: 93+
Drink Date: 2017 – 2024
Date Tast­ed: Sep­tem­ber 2016
Anoth­er com­pelling, deli­cious wine, the 2014 Syrah Block Six Purisi­ma Moun­tain Vine­yard presents a dark­er pro­file than the 2013 tast­ed along­side it, with plen­ty of black cher­ry, plum, laven­der, men­thol, sage and spice. Beams of tan­nin sup­port the long, per­sis­tent fin­ish. The 2014 appears to have a bright future.
Not Yet Released

2014 Purisima Mountain Vineyard Syrah Clone #1

Rat­ing: 93
Drink Date: 2016 – 2024
Date Tast­ed: Sep­tem­ber 2016
The 2014 Syrah Clone #1 Purisi­ma Moun­tain Vine­yard jumps from the glass. Vibrant and beau­ti­ful­ly poised, with love­ly ener­gy and ten­sion, the 2014 is anoth­er win­ner from Steve Beck­men. Sage, laven­der and men­thol wrap around a core of blue/​blackish fruit. Next to the 2013, the 2014 is a bit more focused and savory in profile.

2013 Purisima Mountain Vineyard Block Six Syrah

Rat­ing: 93
Drink Date: 2017 – 2022
Date Tast­ed: Sep­tem­ber 2016
Vibrant and pow­er­ful in the glass, the 2013 Syrah Block Six Purisi­ma Moun­tain Vine­yard is beau­ti­ful­ly delin­eat­ed in the glass. Chalk, bright red stone fruits, white flow­ers and men­thol are some of the many notes that shape this super-expres­sive, aro­mat­i­cal­ly intense Syrah.

2014 Purisima Mountain Vineyard Syrah

Rat­ing: 92
Drink Date: 2016 – 2022
Date Tast­ed: Sep­tem­ber 2016
The 2014 Syrah Purisi­ma Moun­tain Vine­yard is dark, pow­er­ful and author­i­ta­tive, with­in the mid-weight per­son­al­i­ty of the vin­tage. Black cher­ry, black­ber­ry, graphite, spice and leather are all nice­ly pushed for­ward. Delin­eat­ed and vibrant, the 2014 is pris­tine today. It should drink well for anoth­er hand­ful of years. This is a fair­ly restrained, vibrant style for Bal­lard Canyon.

2013 Purisima Mountain Vineyard Syrah Clone #1

Rat­ing: 92
Drink Date: 2016 – 2021
Date Tast­ed: Sep­tem­ber 2016
The 2013 Syrah Clone #1 Purisi­ma Moun­tain Vine­yard is plump, juicy and sup­ple, all of which give it quite a bit of imme­di­a­cy and up-front appeal. Sweet red cher­ry, plum, mint, spice and rose petal meld togeth­er in a juicy Syrah endowed with real per­son­al­i­ty. This is an espe­cial­ly fruit-dri­ven style of Syrah with soft con­tours and plen­ty to admire. The Clone #1 was done with ful­ly destemmed fruit.

2015 Purisima Mountain Vineyard Viognier

Rat­ing: 90
Drink Date: 2016 – 2019
Date Tast­ed: Sep­tem­ber 2016
The 2015 Viog­nier Purisi­ma Moun­tain Vine­yard is a very pret­ty wine that cap­tures plen­ty of vari­etal nuance while retain­ing fresh­ness and avoid­ing excess heav­i­ness. Lime, sage and sweet flo­ral notes add love­ly shades of nuance throughout.

2014 TLB

Rat­ing: 90
Drink Date: 2016 – 2022
Date Tast­ed: Sep­tem­ber 2016
The 2014 TLB Estate Cuvée, Steve Beckmen’s Caber­net Sauvignon/​Syrah blend, is ter­rif­ic. It has also retained more fresh­ness than the straight Caber­net off this site. Plum, black­ber­ry, sweet herbs, leather and licorice are pushed for­ward in a juicy, suc­cu­lent wine to drink now and over the next hand­ful of years. There is plen­ty to like.

2014 Cuvee le Bec

Rat­ing: 90
Drink Date: 2016 – 2019
Date Tast­ed: Sep­tem­ber 2016
The 2014 Cuvée Le Bec is an absolute­ly deli­cious wine as well as a tremen­dous val­ue. Sup­ple, vibrant and impec­ca­bly well-bal­anced, the 2014 offers con­sid­er­able near and medi­um-term appeal, with plen­ty of vibrant fruit pushed for­ward. Le Bec is 50% Syrah, 35% Grenache, 8% Mourvè­dre and 7% Counoise.