Our Report Card is in: Consistency and Quality Recognized

At Beck­men Vine­yards, our wine­mak­ing team is always focused on pro­duc­ing con­sis­tent­ly excep­tion­al wines that cap­ture the unique char­ac­ter of our two incred­i­ble vine­yards. While we strive for excel­lence in every bot­tle, it’s espe­cial­ly reward­ing for our team when crit­ics acknowl­edge their hard work. This year, we’re proud to share that near­ly every wine in our diverse port­fo­lio earned top rat­ings and accolades.

Critics’ Praise

In his annu­al review of San­ta Bar­bara Coun­ty, Anto­nio Gal­loni stated:

“Steve Beckmen quietly makes some of the most distinctive wines in Santa Barbara. Estate sites in Ballard Canyon and Los Olivos excel with Syrah and Cabernet Sauvignon respectively, but all the selections in this range are terrific.”

Red Wine

We released both 2021 and 2022 red wines this year, with spe­cial pride in our 2022 wines. Despite chal­leng­ing con­di­tions in the vine­yard includ­ing drought and a heat spike dur­ing har­vest, great wine­mak­ing isn’t just about ide­al years but mas­ter­ing the dif­fi­cult ones too.

Syrah

• 2021 PMV Block Six Syrah | 97 points –Jeb Dun­nuck, 95 points – Vinous
  ​“Up with the finest Syrahs I have ever tast­ed from this estate (and it pret­ty much stopped me in my tracks). I love it today, yet it will ben­e­fit from a year or two of bot­tle age and blow you away over the fol­low­ing decade.”
• 2021 PMV Clone #1 Syrah | 96 points – Jeb Dun­nuck, 94 points – Vinous 
  ​“The 2021 Syrah Purisi­ma Moun­tain Vine­yard Clone #1 cap­tures all the ele­ments that make Steve Beck­men’s wines so distinctive.”
• 2022 PMV Clone #1 Syrah | 95 points – Vinous, 95 points – Jeb Dun­nuck 
  ​“It’s impec­ca­bly well-bal­anced, has clas­sic char­ac­ter, and just begs to be drunk.”
• 2022 Syrah OWN | 93 points – Vinous, 92 points — Jeb Dun­nuck
  ​“Dark, red-toned fruit, rose petal, sweet spice and blood orange all meld togeth­er. There’s gor­geous den­si­ty in the glass, but also plen­ty of tex­tur­al finesse.”

And last, but not least

• 2021 PMV Syrah | 93 points + #47 in Top 100 Cel­lar Selec­tions – Wine Enthu­si­ast, 93 Points – Jeb Dun­nuck
  ​“This wine is fun now and will sure­ly be sol­id lat­er. Clean and easy-going aro­mas of boy­sen­ber­ry syrup lead from the nose into a firm­ly struc­tured palate with black­ber­ry and tar flavors.”

Cabernet Sauvignon

• 2021 TLB | 96 points – Vinous
  ​“Pli­ant and expres­sive with fab­u­lous per­sis­tence, the 2021 offers a strik­ing inter­play of fruit ripeness, acid­i­ty, and struc­ture. It’s a gor­geous and dis­tinc­tive wine from Steve Beckmen.”

• 2021 Estate Caber­net Sauvi­gnon | 96 points – Vinous
  ​“The 2021 Estate Caber­net is packed with dark blue/​purplish fruit, laven­der, cloves and crushed rocks. Sinewy and struc­tured, the 2021 is super-expres­sive in this tasting.”

Grenache

• 2022 Estate Grenache | 94 points – Jeb Dun­nuck
  ​“A medi­um-bod­ied Grenache that’s beau­ti­ful­ly bal­anced, has a pure, ele­gant mouth­feel, savory tan­nins, and out­stand­ing length.”
• 2022 PMV Grenache Libre | 94 Points – Jeb Dun­nuck
  ​“Kirsch, Bing cher­ries, laven­der and some pep­pery notes all define the 2022 Grenache Libre, anoth­er impres­sive Grenache from this estate that has tons of character.”
• 2021 PMV Grenache | 94 points – Jeb Dun­nuck
  ​“A pure, vibrant nose of ripe red and black fruits, pep­pery herbs, and spring flow­ers. Rich, medi­um to full-bod­ied, beau­ti­ful­ly tex­tured, and down­right seamless.” 

• 2022 SYV Grenache | 94 points and Editor’s Choice – Wine Enthu­si­ast
  ​“Aro­mas of black cher­ry, loam and bak­ing spice lead from the nose into a vivid­ly tex­tured palate packed with boy­sen­ber­ry, mace, and star anise fla­vors. This ver­sa­tile Grenache can be dressed down for pool­side sips or put in a tux for a fan­cy dinner.”

CLB

And let’s not for­get our beloved 2021 Cuvee Le Bec, which was named an Editor’s Choice by Wine Enthu­si­ast for the sixth con­sec­u­tive year. Crit­ics award­ed it scores between 91 and 92 points with Wine Enthu­si­ast call­ing it ​“a wine that always over deliv­ers.” Vinous labels it a ​“beau­ti­ful entry-lev­el offer­ing,” while Jeb Dun­nuck says ​“I always love this cuvee from Beckmen.”

White Wines

Though we pro­duce a very lim­it­ed num­ber of white wines, they receive the same metic­u­lous atten­tion as our reds. Here’s what the crit­ics has to say:

• 2023 SYV Sauvi­gnon Blanc | 92 points and Editor’s Choice – Wine Enthu­si­ast 
  ​“This bot­tling blends the best parts of Sauvi­gnon Blanc into one bottling.”

• 2023 PMV Viog­nier | 93 points – Vinous
  ​“The 2023 Viog­nier caress­es the palate with hints of apri­cot, gin­ger, spice, lemon con­fit and marzi­pan. There’s gor­geous oili­ness and ample vari­etal char­ac­ter here, but also plen­ty of the fresh­ness that defines the house style.”

Looking Ahead

2024 was an out­stand­ing year for the wine­mak­ing team at Beck­men Vine­yards. It’s nice that crit­ics notice what our loy­al cus­tomers have known for years: we’re pro­duc­ing some of the best wines in the Cen­tral Coast. What’s even more excit­ing? The wines cur­rent­ly aging in bar­rels are show­ing incred­i­ble promise. We can’t wait to share our new releas­es with you in 2025.

Thank you for being part of our journey and celebrating these successes with us. Cheers to another great year ahead!