A Bandol-Inspired Bottling with California Soul

The Story Behind Our Mourvèdre Rosé

Some wines arrive qui­et­ly — oth­ers make such an impres­sion that they earn a per­ma­nent place in the port­fo­lio. Our Mourvè­dre Rosé is one of the latter.

What began as a small-lot exper­i­ment in our EXP pro­gram quick­ly became one of our most request­ed wines. The response was over­whelm­ing — from club mem­bers, crit­ics and casu­al drinkers alike. Craft­ed in the style of the leg­endary rosés of Ban­dol, France, this wine is a rare achieve­ment in Cal­i­for­nia: ele­gant, struc­tured and unde­ni­ably soulful. 

A Taste of Bandol — and the Rosés of Provence

France’s Provence region is wide­ly con­sid­ered the birth­place and bench­mark of dry rosé. While pink wines are now pro­duced all over the world, it’s Provence — with its pale hues, del­i­cate tex­tures and herb-tinged min­er­al­i­ty — that has defined what rosé can (and should) be.

At the heart of that tra­di­tion lies Ban­dol, a small but revered appel­la­tion near the Mediter­ranean coast. Here, Mourvè­dre is the star. While typ­i­cal­ly known for pro­duc­ing bold, brood­ing reds, Bandol’s wine­mak­ers have long coaxed a more grace­ful expres­sion from Mourvè­dre in rosé form — yield­ing wines that are seri­ous, savory and capa­ble of aging for years.

These are not your typ­i­cal sum­mer sip­pers. Ban­dol rosés are built with struc­ture and intent, offer­ing lay­ered notes of straw­ber­ry, cit­rus peel, dried herbs and sea breeze. They’re a cel­e­bra­tion of restraint, com­plex­i­ty and place — a style that’s hard to repli­cate and rarely attempt­ed out­side south­ern France.

Why It Works at Beckmen

To craft a rosé in this style is no small feat. But San­ta Bar­bara Coun­ty — and specif­i­cal­ly the San­ta Ynez Val­ley — offers a unique set of con­di­tions that make it possible.

Our estate-grown Mourvè­dre thrives in lime­stone-rich soils, under abun­dant sun­shine, and just 25 miles from the Pacif­ic Ocean. Nes­tled between the San Rafael Moun­tains and the San­ta Ynez Range, the vine­yard ben­e­fits from cool marine breezes and dra­mat­ic day-night tem­per­a­ture swings. This nat­ur­al bal­ance between warmth and fresh­ness allows us to har­vest Mourvè­dre at the per­fect moment — pre­serv­ing acid­i­ty while devel­op­ing flavor.

The result is a rosé that reflects the spir­it of Ban­dol, while express­ing the dis­tinc­tive ter­roir of California’s Cen­tral Coast. It’s lay­ered and tex­tured, with a dry, min­er­al back­bone and just the right amount of grip.

From Experiment to Essential

“When we first bot­tled the Mourvè­dre Rosé under the EXP label, we knew it was spe­cial,” says wine­mak­er Steve Beck­men. ​“But the response blew us away. It was clear peo­ple were crav­ing this style of rosé — some­thing more lay­ered, more seri­ous, but still beau­ti­ful­ly drinkable.”

Today, the wine stands proud­ly along­side our core offer­ings — a Ban­dol-inspired bot­tling with Cal­i­for­nia soul, made pos­si­ble by the unique char­ac­ter of our vine­yard and the pre­ci­sion behind every farm­ing and wine­mak­ing decision.

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