Our Futures Program: The Top 6 Things You Should Know
Posted: Aug 13, 2024
Imagine buying wines before they have even left the barrel, let alone hit the shelves of your favorite store! For two decades, Beckmen Vineyards has been opening our cellar doors each fall, offering a rare opportunity to taste our limited-production red wines, as they patiently mature in oak barrels. Read on to find out everything you need to know about the workings of our annual Futures program, and why this could be the best wine investment you ever make.
1. What are Futures and why should I be interested?
“Our Futures Program is a unique opportunity for our customers to get a sneak peek at some early wine samples and get to know the wines from their inception”, says our winemaker Steve Beckmen. “When you purchase wines through our Futures program, you’re getting the best possible price at any time. The opportunity is golden.”
Wine Futures, also known as “en primeur” (meaning ‘as a first’ directly translated from French), is a tradition that can be traced back all the way to the 18th century in Bordeaux, France. The practice entails offering wines for sale while still in the barrels, typically a few months after the harvest and long before they have matured enough to be bottled and officially released to the market. This pre-purchasing model served as a prime opportunity for all wine lovers to secure their share of highly sought-after wines at a very desirable price point before they became available to the general public.
The tradition was born from Bordeaux winemakers’ eagerness to get a sense of the market’s reception to their hard work. They began selling their wines early to merchants. Over the centuries, this evolved into an annual event, allowing for buyers to secure wines at potentially lower prices, while wineries got early funding to support their production. This concept spread rapidly to wine regions across the world from Burgundy to Napa Valley, and now right here to Santa Barbara County.
Unlike traditional practices, we’ve taken a customer-friendly approach in Santa Barbara County, where pre-orders are not charged upfront. Instead, buyers are billed only when the wine is released, between October 2024 and April 2025, spreading out the payments.
2. What wines are included in the 2024 Futures program and what makes them special?
The 2024 Futures program at Beckmen Vineyards includes a carefully curated selection of small production wines, many of which are anticipated to sell out after the Futures and quarterly club shipments. Among these exclusive offerings, the Purisima Red Wine stands out as a unique collector’s item, not available in the quarterly shipments, making the Futures program the ideal place to purchase it. What truly sets these wines apart is that they are handpicked by Steve, the winemaker, representing some of his top choices from the vintage.
The six wines included in the 2024 Futures program are:
2023 Purisima Mountain Vineyard Grenache Libre Traditionally grown and crafted Grenache, with vibrant fruit and spice with a well-structured grace.
2023 Purisima Mountain Vineyard Grenache Block Eight A perfectly structured fruit filled Grenache fermented and aged in our clay amphora bottled especially for the Futures program.
2023 Purisima Mountain Vineyard Syrah Clone #1 The 22nd vintage with the classic allure of Clone 1, combining the rich flavors of bacon fat, chocolate, and deep dark fruits.
- 2022 Purisima Mountain Vineyard Syrah Block Six Cool vintage and superb structure highlight this classic, minerally Block Six Syrah, promising graceful aging for 20+ years.
- 2022 Purisima Red Wine A Futures exclusive and only produced during our finest vintages, this 100% Syrah includes a unique blend of excellent Syrah blocks and selections from the 2022 vintage.
2022 TLB (Thomas Lawrence Beckmen) Bold and vibrant, this Cabernet Sauvignon wine, named after our founder Tom, is accentuated with 15% Syrah, adding a lively tension to its fruit flavors.
3. How can I participate in the Futures Program and what does the process look like?
Participation in the program is now more simple and accessible than ever, with barrel tastings being carried out both on the Beckmen Vineyards estate as well as shipped as a tasting flight kit directly to you. You can also submit a Futures pre-order without tasting the wines.
If you’re nearby, join us for on-site Futures tastings with Winemaker Steve Beckmen on Saturday, September 14th and Saturday, September 28th at 2:00pm at a cost of $50 per person. Live tastings promise an immersive experience, complete with a cheeseboard from a local cheesery and an introduction to our six select wines. You can also arrange a weekday tasting with Steve by appointment between September 16 — 20 and 23 — 27.
If you can’t make it in person, you can still experience the barrel tastings by ordering one of our Futures Tasting Flights which will be shipped complimentary to you. These tastings cost $75, inclusive of a kit that contains 50ml samples of the six different wines, their details, and our winemaker’s tasting notes. Taste these wines with our Sales Director, Jeff Beckmen, at a lively virtual tasting on Zoom on select days at the end of September, or taste along as you watch a video of our winemaker describing the wines from inside our winery’s barrel room.
4. How does pre-ordering work?
The six wines included in the Futures program can be pre-ordered from August 1 through October 31, 2024. We require a three-bottle minimum pre-order for each wine, and ground shipping is included on all wines if the total pre-order is 12+ bottles. A tasting fee is also refunded with each 12 bottle pre-order; two tastings would be refunded with a 24 bottle pre-order.
The six wines will be bottled and released at different stages between this fall and spring of next year, so as your pre-ordered wine becomes ready, you will be charged for your allotment. For example, if you pre-ordered the Grenache Libre you will be charged when it is released in April 2025.
5. What advice does Steve have when tasting these wines?
“Consider the energy and feel of the wine. Think about how it’s hitting your palate and how it finishes. Is it softer, rounder, or more tannic? These are all clues as to how the wine will have aged once it arrives at your door”, Steve advises.
“Wines sold at Futures are discounted at the lowest price they’ll ever be offered at,” Steve says. “This is a chance to secure the bottle you’ve always wanted and keep it in your cellar for years to come, possibly even a lifetime.”
6. How does the Futures program reveal the winemaking process at Beckmen Vineyards?
For over twenty years, Beckmen Vineyards has opened our cellar doors to our members for a rare opportunity to taste a limited selection of our small production red wines still aging in oak barrels. Beyond the undeniable purchasing value that Futures offers, Steve also notes the educational benefits it can bring. “Futures can really enhance a drinker’s understanding of the wine. You’re tasting it from its infancy and once it’s evolved, so you really begin to understand what’s happening to the wine throughout its time in the barrel”, he explains.
Guests learn how the wine was grown, why it was made, and what decisions ultimately went into crafting the particular wine before them. Tastings are carried out by Steve himself, and guests make notes on each wine’s qualities as they go along. “It’s a really fun and interactive event that our community looks forward to”, says Steve. Being able to experience wine through its different stages of development is hard to come by, as most people will only ever taste the wine once its final iteration enters the market. With Futures, however, the relationship with the wine you purchase is lengthy and intimate.
The track record shows that it’s hard to go wrong. Beckmen Vineyards wines sold during the Futures program have historically been some of the best we’ve ever produced, with many selling out before even becoming available to the public. After all, as Steve reminds us, “Great wine is always great.”